


Dance of Silver

by Chisie



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/M, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Siblings, Slow Burn, Vampire Hunters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-09-26 12:52:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chisie/pseuds/Chisie
Summary: A vampire that murdered his clan and is now being hunted by the same person that turned him into that very being of a vampire.Slippery like an eel, swift and powerful just like his creator, Genji escapes capture each and every time, when one day, by chance, he stumbles upon a pair of Vampire Hunters. Siblings, to be exact: Jesse McCree and Angela Ziegler.His fate, and theirs, start to change.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The prologue of my first Gency fic! This is @l-avieja 's (tumblr) reversed vampire AU and it’s an honour to be able to write this out! 
> 
> I already posted this before in Tumblr but I'll start posting the chapters here too. Updates will be here

Dark. It was so dark. And heavy.

The rush of wind blew past her ears as her hair whipped around her face wildly, and a gasp escaped her throat when a sharp pain slammed right onto her back.

“Sis!”

A familiar voice floated around her, but the pain muddled her mind, a dark haze fogging up her senses. She tried to steady her breathing but it came out short and raspy, the wind having been roughly knocked out of her lungs.

His eyes widened at the sight of web-like cracks appearing on the concrete walls, the russet irises darkening as a sudden rage washed over his senses. The dangerous gleam of his glare landed upon the lithe silhouette that stood some distance away, a few meters away from where  _ that damned vampire threw his sister! _

The glow of the full moon loomed overhead, large and overbearing into the late night. The vampire’s shadow lengthened under the shine and Jesse tightly gripped the revolver in his hand, all the while inching towards the winded woman. His eyes watched the creature standing in such a deceptively relaxed stance before him, the anger boiling to newer heights at the smooth voice that drifted in the wind.

“Is that all you got, hunter?”

A provocation, loud and clear, ringing in his ears. From a damned vampire no less.

“Oh, I got more from where that came from, you monster,” Jesse calmly responded. There was an edge to his tone, a guarded sting that laced his words.

“J-Jesse?”

The soft voice caught his attention, but the vampire never left his sights. “Are you okay?” He hoped that she was. He prayed she was only winded, nothing more. They needed to get out of there, to run away because he knew better than to throw their lives away in front of a vampire they could not contend against.

That creature was strong, stronger than all the other vampires that they hunted. His speed left nothing but a faint blur and a dust cloud in its wake, and his strength, that certainly wasn’t something he wished to block against again. His left arm was still aching terribly from having blocked the punch aimed for his head, but that was the only blow he was dealt with before Angela was suddenly pushed to the side, instantly colliding with the wall of a building to his right.

Ever since then, the vampire hadn’t moved.

He made out the green hair highlighted under the moonlight, but it was the eyes, the pair of bright vermillion jewels that glinted dangerously, that watched the pair with amusement dancing within.

“I’m –” Angela wheezed and struggled to her feet, a hand braced against the brick wall, “I’m okay.” She lifted her head to look at the vampire still unmoved from his spot. There was a warning tingle at the back of her head, the same bell that alerted her to things that weren’t supposed to be, things that were supposed to only exist in fairy-tales and nothing more.

But she knew better.

She was a daughter in a family of Hunters. She was trained to kill, kill the shadowy demonic creatures that roamed the Earth and drank the blood of mortal humans.

She caught only the faint grin sent her way before the vampire  _ disappeared.  _ Five strong fingers suddenly gripped at her throat, the same arrogant quirk of his lips she saw just a blink before now magnified before her very face.

“Sis!”

The crack of a gun echoed in the streets as Jesse fired his Revolver. The vampire released his grip on her, easily evading the gunshot and ran towards the other hunter. Unflinchingly, Jesse rolled to the side in the split second the sharp claws were to mar his face and aimed his revolver at the vampire once more.

_ Bang! _

At point-blank, the gunshot met its mark as it embedded itself deeply into the howling vampire’s shoulder. Jesse immediately got to his feet and fired off another round, shattering the vampire’s clavicle.

“Jesse! Don’t!”

“Why not! He almost killed you!”

“ _ Almost! _ ”

“You could have died!”

That moment was all the vampire needed to dig out the two silver bullets in his body. He ignored the burning sensation on his fingers and threw them aside like discarded toys, and before the hunters’ very eyes, wisps of smoke drifted into the clear night as the wound began to close and heal, with bones cracking back into place.

“Is that all you got? This is a child’s play.” His condescending laugh filled their ears before he trained his excited eyes upon Angela. “And trying to save a vampire?  _ How noble _ .”

The words might have looked nice, but she could feel the irritation that laced his tone, the disgust that rolled off his tongue, but – “You don’t deserve to be hunted.”

He wouldn’t have caught her whispers, barely audible as they already were in such a quiet night, but he heard them alright. And they piqued his interest. A slight tilt of his head, a small curve on the side of his lips, and he took a step towards her when his body swiftly bent back at the sudden gunshot that flashed an inch above his torso.

“Take another step towards her and I  _ will _ drag you down to hell.”

He laughed. “Boy, I could easily rip you apart with my hands if I wanted to.” But the woman was interesting. Something was drawing him towards her, calling him forward with the crook of a finger. Maybe her blood was delicious. Maybe it was her idealistic views. Maybe he just had a thing for blondes.

_ Mmm, it has been awhile since I’ve drunk some pretty nice wine.  _ He subconsciously licked his lips. A taste wouldn’t hurt, would it?

In the blink of an eye, he reappeared in front of Angela, Jesse’s next shot missing him by a mile. He leered down at her with lips curved into a lopsided smirk. She saw the sharp fang that peeked underneath his upper lip and surprisingly to him, her eyes shined with a beautiful defiance in the face of a monster. Her eyes wandered across his face, following the myriad of scars, the lines evident even against his pale skin, from his temple down to his chin, before catching his gaze and staring right back, unflinching against the red orbs. Now, he was really interested. His arm raised swiftly and gripped onto her shoulder, the sudden shot digging into the wall they were at just before.

Angela squirmed and glared at the vampire who merely laughed like he was toying with children. Given his age, they  _ were _ children. He lowered his face towards the crook of her neck like a moth drawn to a flame. The fair skin was inviting, a temptress cooing at his instincts to come closer, to lick at the surface, to sink his teeth into –

He whipped his head up just as the bullet whizzed past his face, singeing the tips of his hair. Angela slammed the gun still in her right hand at his lifted chin, forcing his head back further and wrenched her shoulder out of his grip, just as Jesse fired his revolver at the vampire once more.

“Ooh, not much of a damsel in distress now, are we?”

Angela ignored his taunts in favour of sending him a heated glare as Jesse crossed over and stood by her side, deftly reloading his revolver and flicking it to a close. She disagreed with hunting vampires, yes, but she was by no means, an easy prey. She believed they were still humans, with morality and conscience simply buried deep inside. They were just like any other people; They still had to survive, to eat and drink, rest when weary, brood when pissed. Wasn’t that already similar to those ordinary mortals that fought to survive in today’s civilisation? 

The vampire rolled his head and shoulders, the cracking of his bones resounding loud and clear. He must be rusty, to be bested by two children no less.

He shrugged his shoulders. Well, it has been some time… – fine,  _ years _ – since he got any competition. Humans were easy prey after all. He gazed at the full moon behind them, the light glaring to his eyes yet so… enchanting. It stirred the blood within his veins, swimming through his nerves and calling upon his instincts. He needed to drink, to taste that sweetness that slid down his throat, dripping down the side of his face as he savoured every, last drop. He wanted to – no  _ needed _ to. Just one small bite.

_ No, you can’t. _

_ Yes, I can. I need it. It calls for me – _

_ No! You don’t! You can live without it! _

_ NO! I NEED THE BLOOD! _

Jesse backed away from the groaning vampire bathing fully under the moon, an aching arm in front of Angela and gun fixed onto the creature. The vampire was gripping at his hair, clawing into his skull with mournful groans breathing past his lips. A sudden change from the monster that tried to kill them moments before.

The pair of siblings were unsure to why but silently agreed that escaping was in their best interest. They could not contend with a vampire that simply did not die from the silver bullets, and coupled with the fact he was stronger than the other vampires they met?

They really did not have a death wish. They hadn’t even celebrated their 21 st birthday, god dammit all.

“If I get us out of here,” Jesse grunted under his breath as the groaning vampire got further and further away. “I demand an awesome birthday present.”

Angela chuckled lightly despite the situation. “Sure, if we survive this.”

They could never outrun that vampire. Not if he set his eyes on them but they managed to distance themselves by twenty odd meters or so, and the breath they held was exhaled in that moment. A short reprieve in the tenseness. The abrupt random warning tingle running down their spine made them look up, and they saw the bright red eyes glaring at them, as if to tell them that they stole his favourite candy and were running away. It wasn’t that far off, provided they were the candy that  _ were _ running away.

“This is your fault, sis.”

“How?” But she quickly added, “Just because I didn’t let you kill it?” as Jesse uttered ‘ _ because you didn’t let me kill it _ ’ under his breath. Bristling, she chided, “I told you before! We can’t simply hunt them! They’re humans too!”

He simply grunted in response, unbothered to argue, having heard the same arguments for the last half decade. Her reasons never changed when he was first adopted into the family, and from what he knew, it was the same even before he entered. That was one thing Angela remained stubborn on, despite being born into a family of Hunters.

He heaved a heavy sigh and gripped onto her forearm, warily watching the vampire whose chest rose and fell. His movements looked enraged, staggering towards them slowly yet so sure in his steps. With each step forward, they moved a large step backward and seeing their retreat, he quirked yet another smirk. Inhale.

And in the next second, he pushed off the ground, a crater forming from where his foot leapt off with a small boom. He rushed towards them, easily closing the distance within a second, and brandished his claws and fangs with a crazed demonic smile gracing his pale face.

“Fuck!” The strong expletive jumped out off his mouth, but Jesse calmly aimed and fired his gun, hurriedly running away with Angela in his grip.

The vampire effortlessly sidestepped the bullet and continued his merry chase. The adrenaline coursed through his veins, the excitement literally rolling off his body in waves, the manic laughter echoing in the empty streets. When he got close enough and dodged a couple of bullets, he’d always slow down and pull back after nicking them one or two in the arm. His tongue flicked at the sweet, tantalising blood lightly coating his nails and Jesse swore those demonic eyes would shine brighter, crazier, more demonic, before pushing themselves harder to run away.

It was just a game. A chase of cat and mice.

“J-Jesse.”

He cursed under his breath as Angela’s breathing grew ragged and short for the second time that night. Beads of sweat rolled down her face, fatigue painting over her features and he felt his heart ache at the sight. Why wasn’t he stronger? Why couldn’t he protect the family he finally got after so long of blood and gore from wars when he was a gang member way back when?

The pale face full of sharp fangs and bright eyes stared at him full face. He shuddered when the creature licked his lips, enjoying the traces of their blood upon his taste buds, taking slow steps towards them. Jesse remained standing before Angela, shielding her smaller frame behind his back. Tall and proud, fearless and unwavering before the very creature that roamed freely in a world of frightened mortals.

Angela gripped the back of his shirt; Jesse gripped his revolver.

The vampire laughed in their faces.

Jesse raised his left arm, swift and certain, as the vampire’s hand came crashing down and he immediately fired a shot with the gun in his right while he blocked with his left.  _ Crack!  _ The hunter grimaced at the feeling of his bones breaking under the force while the vampire basically ignored the wound and stubbornly brought his other hand down, only for the hunter to retaliate with more point-blank bullets.

The vampire’s body twitched with each bullet, forced to take small steps back with each one, and his chest was now riddled with five clean silver shots, but Jesse didn’t stop there. Pushing Angela away, he nimbly reloaded his revolver and slammed the butt of his gun into the vampire’s face with all the strength he could muster in his wounded body before emptying the gun, leaving one last bullet inside. A satisfied smirk curved upon his lips when the vampire staggered back and groaned in pain. Satisfaction at causing it pain, at seeing the hope that he could perhaps, protect Angela, that vampires were never undying.

Straightening his arm parallel to the ground, he pointed the revolver at the vampire for the umpteenth time that night. “I told you. I will drag you down to hell.”

Blood soaked his clothes, mixed with the dirt and dust from running and dodging, but Jesse still stood unwavering in front of the hardest vampire he ever had to kill. Angela stood to the side, biting her bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood as she watched with confliction, her adoptive brother in all his glory.

The scent of sweet fresh blood. The vampire snapped his head towards Angela in that split second. Panicked, Jesse twisted his body and leapt towards her, but the biting winds at his face and the blood splattering into the night like a blooming red lily told him all he needed to know.

He never could outrun a damn vampire. And he was going to pay for it.


	2. Meeting

Rows of trees rushed by. A blur of green and brown on the corner of their eyes. A black silhouette was dashing in front of them, drops of blood flying through the air.

“Flash on three.” A deep voice called out to the young woman by his side who had no trouble in keeping up with his speed.

She nodded as he fished out a flashbang.

Three.

He pulled at the pin.

Two.

He pulled his arm back as they ran.

One.

The flashbang zipped through the air, having been thrown with all the strength he could muster. The vampire saw the grenade pass overhead a few meters in front of him and he sneered at the total miss. He turned around with a mocking grin.

“Is that all you got?”

“And… boom.”

As soon as the words left Jesse’s mouth, both he and Angela shut their eyes, turning their heads to the side as a flashy loud bang rang through the air. Their steps slowed, waiting for the shrill ringing to pass. It wasn’t as bad for them as it was for the vampire. He had been directly next to the flashbang when it exploded.

Blinking to let their eyes readjust, Angela saw first the vampire writhing in pain, forcefully disoriented from the light and sound.

With the Glock 22 in hand, she readied herself as Jesse swiftly subdued the vampire, tying it with a rope filled with knots before pulling out two long stakes and pierced them through the vampire’s right arm and left leg. His mournful howls fell upon deaf ears as Jesse stepped down onto his left arm, his favourite Peacekeeper in hand. The revolver’s silver barrel gleamed, clean and free of dust, as his large calloused hands wrapped their fingers around the handle. A snug fit.

“Where’s your lover?” Jesse’s calm voice drifted over to Angela who visibly relaxed as she scanned their surroundings. Her eyes darted through the trees, watching the leaves rustle with the winds, cracks of sunlight lighting up their area.

“Like I’d tell a wretched hunter!” The vampire seethed. He struggled to break free, but the wooden stakes were shaped like an ‘L’, and no matter how hard he tried to escape the restraints, he couldn’t slide his limbs out. So, his hopes were all on his free leg as he kicked around, doing all he could to just kick the damn hunter off him!

With a flat stare and a roll of his dark eyes, Jesse fired his Peacekeeper at the thrashing limb’s knee, lips curving up into a satisfied smirk at the clear cracking of bones and agonised screech. The vampire glared at the relaxed hunter, screaming profanities and refusing to back down, but Jesse simply fired more bullets into his leg, tracing a straight line following the bone, all the while digging his boots onto the unstaked arm.

“Go to Hell! All of you shit-faced hunters thinking you’re all mighty!” As if his mind broke, the vampire trained his blue eyes onto Angela, the light colour darkening. “If I escape this, you'll be my first prey for my lover! Hehehe, your blood! It must be deli —”

_ Bang! _

His mouth hung open, shock replacing the malice his face displayed just a moment before. A faint wisp of smoke arose from Peacekeeper’s barrel as Jesse glowered at the corpse. A 9mm bullet hole stared back at him.

“Never much liked you.”

“Jesse —”

“Darl’, no. I was gonna kill him either way.”

Angela retracted her lifted foot at the tone of finality in his voice. The vampire had been notorious for sucking the blood of young men, loving the ‘vigorous’ taste it gave, but he was also infamous for another thing: Kidnapping and strapping young, fair-faced women from the ceiling with their wrists sliced open as his lover slowly sipped at the dripping blood. Over two dozen able-bodied men and beautiful girls gaff died at their hands.

Inwardly sighing, she holstered her gun and stepped towards the young rugged man. She could trace the lines of muscle underneath his shirt, the tense contours on his back and the grim expression on his side profile.

Her left hand subconsciously lifted and touched her right forearm.

From his peripheral vision, he saw her frown and his gaze fell onto her hand. His own frown deepened while he closed the distance between them. Placing a hand on hers, he gently patted her head with the other.

Although they were both 21, he was still a good full head taller than her.

Seeing her pout, a grin split across his face. She could see the mirth glinting in his warm gaze, the sight of a hastily shaven stubble and the bloody lines that cut his face.

Standing on her tiptoes, she removed the cowboy hat perched on his head, perched it on her head, and ungracefully ruffled his long locks sticky with sweat before pushing him down hard in the head till he was eye-level with her.

He had the gall to grin cheekily. With a huff, she rolled her eyes in response but unclipped the pouch strapped to her waist. “Oh, what an angel. Do have mercy on me, darl’.”

She rolled her eyes at him again, but her hands had already begun cleaning and disinfecting the wound, ignoring the charming Southern drawl of her dear adoptive brother. “What are we going to do now?”  _ Now that we lost our main lead _ .

He shrugged. “We’ll burn this guy first. I swear, they gotta get creative. All they know is ‘Is that all you got?’ My ears bleed every damn time.”

Crisp laughter responded to his over-dramatic air quotes and high-pitched mocking of said vampires. “Who told you to be so unthreatening? They won’t take a cowboy wannabe hunter seriously,” she teased.

“Hey, hey! Don’t diss the hat. I love it. And ‘sides, you gave it to me.”

With a resigned sigh and a pat on his cheek to let him know she was done, she said, “That may be true, cowboy. But don’t forget I still hold one last gift in my hands.”

“Aww, I’ll behave.”

If it was possible, Jesse’s cheeky grin grew bigger and Angela could only shake her head in response, though a smile graced her lips.

It hadn’t been long since they celebrated their 21st birthday together, perhaps a mere month or so, but Jesse had immediately taken to the cowboy hat she first gave him.

_ “Ooh, what’s this?” Jesse asked as he held up a fairly large boxed wrapped neatly in tacky Happy Birthday wrapping. “So big? You shouldn’t have, darl’.” _

_ “Just open it. It’s the first gift out of three.” _

_ “First gift out of three? I’m spoiled.” _

_ When he ruthlessly tore apart the papers and opened the box, she remembered how his brown eyes sparkled in utter glee at the cowboy hat. Such a simple gift for such a… _

_ “Here’s yours!” _

_ A sheer contrast from Jesse; Angela gently removed the light blue wrapping filled with confetti and birthday wishes and laughed at the gift inside. _

Angela gingerly clipped her gifted medical pouch shut, reminiscing the small celebration they had. Just the two of them. With no one else. Sure, they had a big one with other vampire hunters, friends, and family. But this small private gathering and the thoughtful gift meant more to her than any fancy gift she had received that night.

Swirling hot flames raged into the sky, greedily devouring the corpse on the ground and they watched from a short distance. Hearing the second click of a lighter, Angela didn’t even turn her head to look. “You know, smoking’s bad for your health.”

“Well, I have faith you can get me patched back up, doc.” He easily teased back, moving the lighter near his cigar.

And she easily popped the cigar out of his mouth. “Even so. No smoking.” With a flick of her finger, the cigar landed squarely in the middle of the flames. She paused. Thought for a moment. And suddenly turned around to reach into Jesse’s pockets.

“Aha!”

As though she was victorious, she easily threw the rest of the cigars into the fire while Jesse’s mouth gaped open, dumbfounded with the small flame still on his lighter. Seeing his expression, she giggled and closed his mouth with a finger.

“Doctor’s orders,” she sang and began walking away, ignoring the grumbling man falling into step beside her who resigned himself to the fate of his cigars, and began humming a tune.

Their walk was slow, relaxing to the point they could take the time to smell the roses. With the burning flames behind them, it gave such a contrast to the beauty of the scene.

The fire got further and further away, but they weren’t worried. Not from a forest fire happening, or from being found out.

They simply walked on the forest path.

There was always a reason why she was paired with the gunslinger. Not because they shared a bond just as close as blood siblings, but because of their skills. He could hit targets with a deadeye precision, even from distances far away, but her, she went for a different route, different from the typical vampire hunter.

Seeing all those casualties on the field and then seeing them hauling themselves to the hospital made her wish she could bring the hospital to them.

But what could she, a 15-year-old girl do?

Yet, it was the first hunt she and Jesse had gone on. The hunt that literally, changed her life. The first time she ever saw the teen, the first time she gained a sibling, she had been extremely wary; Like any teenaged girl that was thrusted with a new sibling, what more at the same age as her.

———

_ “Ange, this is Jesse McCree, your new brother.” _

_ The young blonde watched the teenager. Scruffy brown hair with locks long enough to cover his eyes. He returned her stare with a glare of his own and the corner of her lips twitched. Irritation clawed at her expression as she fought to keep the graceful smile, but the male before her rolled his eyes and scoffed. _

_ Crossing his arms, he said, “She’s my sister? She’s so weak.” _

_ Her lips twitched again. Her expression was faltering. “He’s my brother? He’s so weak.” _

_ Jesse’s head snapped towards her with a sharp glare. She gladly returned it. _

_ “My! I think the two of you will get along well.” _

_ The both of them glared at the man as if to say: Are you bloody blind? _

_ Seeing that the other person was mimicking their action, they yet simultaneously turned their heads to the opposite direction with their noses in the air. _

———

_ “That’s so stupid! Vampires deserve to be dead!” _

_ “We can’t mercilessly hunt them! They’re humans too!” _

_ “They  _ **_used_ ** _ to be humans! They’re just monsters now.” _

_ “No! I don’t believe that!” _

_ Jesse scoffed and crossed his arms. They’ve been at it for days and he just could not understand how she hadn’t died from such naive thinking. _

_ Angela would be dead if she lived out in the streets. Or in the gangs. _

_ “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.” _

———

_ “Can’t you aim any better!” Jesse screeched at Angela as she missed her fifth shot at the vampire. _

_ “It’s not my fault it’s too fast!” _

_ “You’re just a shit shooter!” _

_ Angela cursed him in her mind, readying and aiming her next bullet at the vampire. This one had been gifted with speed; Jumping, twisting and running at the speed of a cheetah and the flexibility of a snake. _

_ “Hurry up and shoot it!” _

_ That irritating voice definitely did not help. She pulled the trigger one too early, the bullet ricocheting off the wall ten odd inches before the vampire. “If only you kept your mouth shut!” She had calculated it, predicted it, but that idiot just had to open his mouth… _

_ “If you focused then it wouldn’t have mattered!” _

_ Angela opened her mouth to retort when a gunshot cracked in the air like Zeus’ thunder. The vampire that had been running rampantly a second ago was lying weakly on the concrete floor, blood steadily flowing out of the wound on her neck. It was a female human-turned-vampire that had preyed on younger males, seducing their bodies before sucking all their blood into her system. _

_ Despite her annoyance at the clear accuracy of his shot, Angela still found it in her to smirk at Jesse’s horror at the close shave of nearly being the next victim moments before the fight. _

_ “You’re such a shit shooter.” _

_ “Shut up.” _

_ “Hmph. I tell step-dad all the time that you’re no angel, but he will never believe me.” _

_ “Of course. Who do you think is more convincing? The sweet, gentle little princess or a brash, hormone-raging teenage boy?” _

_ Jesse rolled his eyes. “Clearly me. I’m the better looking one.” _

_ Before Angela could retort, she came face to face with blood spilling and splattering onto her cheeks. Large doe-like eyes shining a bright red. Canines elongated into sharp fangs peeking out from underneath her smile. For the first time ever on a hunt, she froze. She, Angela Ziegler, a daughter of hunters, trained from when she was a wee child to hunt and kill the vampires,  _ **_froze_ ** _. _

_ All because the vampire had sunken her teeth into a screaming Jesse’s neck before she could even react. _

_ ——— _

“What are you spacing out for, sis!”

Jesse swiftly wrapped his arm around Angela’s waist and jumped back, successfully avoiding the black lump that crashed down onto the spot they stood at before.

_ Oops. Jesse’s mad.  _ Angela giggled and held onto his arm.

“Sorry about that. I was reminiscing about when you were a brat.”

“You’re gonna get killed like this, sis.”

She patted the underside of his jaw. “You won’t let me. My oh, so big and strong brother will protect me.”

Jesse grumbled under his breath about troublesome sisters as they retreated. At a safe distance, he let her go and stared at the vampire crouched down before them. Her dark curly locks slowly fell, framing her face. Even as a vampire, she looked enchanting with her dark skin and bright red eyes.

“Oh, I think this here is the lover —”

The vampire charged at them with a piercing shriek. Gone was the enchanting beauty, replaced by a monstrous snarl.

“Tsk. This is why they say it’s better for women to keep their mouths shut.”

“Jesse. McCree!”

Instantly, the man paled and nervously smiled at his sister, but his body never stopped moving. “Whoops. A slip of my tongue, darl’.”

Angela dodged to the side as he backflipped, his leg accurately slamming into the vampire’s jaw from below. A quick aim, and —

_ Bang! _

Angela fired her gun just as Jesse's kick connected, the bullet hitting the vampire square in the hip.

“Not bad.” Jesse pounced forward and jabbed with his left before giving an uppercut with his right, gun still in hand.

“Thank you. I learned from the best.” Angela quickly got into position behind the woman being sent bending backward, but the vampire was faster.

Noticing Angela preparing to capture her, she stretched out her arms and palmed the ground, smoothly bending at the waist and swiftly bringing her leg down. Angela quickly crossed her arms up above her head, gritting her teeth at the sheer force. She took a step back and swung her arms down, lessening the impact on her limbs.

The vampire easily flipped herself upright and jumped at the female hunter. The two of them soon exchanged a flurry of blows.

“I could use some assistance!”

“I don’t know, darl’. You look like you’re holding up well.”

“Jesse. Goddamm. McCree!”

“Alright, alright. I miss the old you more. You were cuter.”

“ _ JESSE! _ ”

Wordlessly, the young man in question fired off his Peacekeeper. The bullet accurately whizzed in between their faces, forcing them into a temporary pause. He then lifted onto his toes and forcefully leapt towards the duo.

“Stop getting in my way!” the vampire screamed, swinging her arm to the side. Jesse ducked and rolled, rapidly firing three shots towards her chest.

Angela took this chance to distance herself from them and provided support from the rear. It didn't take long before they subdued the lover, having lost all her energy and will to fight from being repeatedly shot and hit. The female hunter sighed and closed her eyes right as Jesse beheaded the vampire, bundled her up into a pile and lit it on fire.

“That's the end of it. Let's go home.”

She could only nod in silence.

As they ventured out of the forest, they cleaned the blood off their faces and entered a public toilet to change out of their sweat-stained, blood-stained, torn clothes.

Taking out their transport cards, they tapped in, found seats in the train and quickly settled into a comfortable silence. Angela faced the window, the blurring trees gradually turned into concrete buildings, but her gaze was fixed onto a sleeping Jesse’s reflection seated across from her.

She had made a choice at 15.

And that was to be a combat medic. The first ever in the history of vampire hunters.

And it was one chirp which surprised the hunting world. Angela had set it on fire with her talents; The natural affinity with medical theories, with fresh new ideas, combining technology with medicine, and then with the hunters’ techniques, but more specifically, with healing. Even in the modern age where technology has advanced greatly, it had not been enough for the hunters who hunted the dark creatures that roamed the earth. Broken bones remained broken, forcing the hunters to become disabled, sometimes even directly becoming a lifelong paraplegic.

Taking a lesson out of history, Angela took the idea of combat medics, weaved it with the current generation's medicine and technology then thus, giving birth to a whole new identity.

Whether it was to save the hunters themselves or the vampires, that was a controversy many couldn’t fathom.

But she was certain about one thing: She had wanted to save this young man named Jesse McCree no matter what. This annoying, cheeky, protective male specimen of a brother.

Sigh…

Jesse’s ears twitched. His cowboy hat was pulled over his face, arms crossed, but he wasn’t asleep. He had long since realised something was off with Angela; She rarely spaced out during a fight, but she had done that more frequently as of late.

“Is something wrong, darl’?” He gently tugged the hat out of his face.

Angela returned his gaze through the window. She softly shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“Now, now. You know that I know that that’s a lie that women concoct just for us lowly mortal men.”

A grin spread across her cheeks before she could think to push it down.

“Now tell me what’s wrong?”

Her gaze quickly flicked to the sides before returning to normal, and he immediately caught on.

_ As long as she's kind of alright, it doesn’t matter to me _ .

Jesse waved his left arm, feeling the slightly numb muscles and heaviness of the limb. When his bones had shattered that day against the fight with the stronger vampire, his arm had turned flaccid, lying so soft by his side. He tried lifting it, but the point from the elbow onwards drooped down like some broken carrot hanging onto its last thread moments before totally snapping off.

To say he wasn’t the least bit concerned might have been an understatement.

He turned his arm over, inspecting the metal shaft covering his arm. It still worked perfectly fine to him. Noticing that, Angela’s lips parted.

“We haven’t seen him in over a week.”

“Isn’t that lucky of us?”

Angela hummed while he shrugged.

The train ride home thus continued in silence.

...

Evening soon fell.

The forest they had hunted the vampires was near a city that was miles away; It was a day trip by train and then another half-hour to reach home. When the sun fully dipped behind the horizon, the warm fiery sky slowly darkening, warning bells tingled in Angela’s mind.

The night sky dim with the dotted stars and moon that others found calming and beautiful, she thought it ominous.

“Jesse —”

She lurched forward as the train came to a sudden halt. Emergency brakes screeched in their ears and everyone took cover. The lights flickered before dying and the emergency lights switched on, glowing dimly before the passengers went into a full panic mode at the abrupt darkness.

“Everyone, stay calm. We will investigate the matter,” announced the PA.

When suddenly, loud thuds echoed on the rooftops, large impressions denting the thick metal ceiling. Angela shared a glance with Jesse. He put his hat back on, seriousness settling in. They didn’t need an investigation to know what happened, or rather, who they met.

_ Vampire _ .

All was then calm. No screeching, no thudding, no nothing. Just an unsettled calm curtaining all the passengers, suffocating everyone. It was a soft whisper that broke the tense silence.

“Are we going to die?”

Intense whispered chatter chirped across the train akin to frightened critters buzzing before their predator. A heavy thump suddenly boomed, silencing everyone inside. Thump. Half a minute passed. Thump. A long pause. Everyone sharply inhaled, waiting with bated breaths, afraid to even let the whoosh of air drift.

Jesse’s and Angela’s hands snaked towards their guns hidden beneath their coats, cautiously scrutinizing the foot-shaped bumps overhead. Amidst the eerie silence, a sharp wind blew, rattling the misty windows.

Thinking that they were safe, the passengers began loosening their breaths and straightening their backs, when a loud bang sounded before a clanking rip echoed through the walls out of the blue. A large clawed hand had plunged into the ceiling, effortlessly tearing a hole before disappearing back into the darkness and throwing the slab of curbed, jagged metal away. Frantic screaming began going off and those nearest to the hole quickly scrambled as far away as possible.

Two bright red jewels flickered through the hole, and Angela noticed that it was  _ blinking _ its eyes,  _ at her _ . Unwilling to back down, she glared back easily.

She later glanced at the crowds.  _ There are too many people on the train. And they can’t get off. _

They were still about an hour away from the station. The train was currently paused over the cliff rails, suspended in between two cliffs with gushing rivers shimmering with black diamonds below.

Then the head peeked in, the artificial lighting of the train revealing the green locks and scarred visage. Jesse cursed under his breath about such an unfortunate luck, Angela gritted her teeth whilst forcing a smile to not let the displeasure show, but with the sharp hearing and eyes that he had, the vampire whose head hung upside down whipped his attention towards the hunter siblings anyways. A wide grin shaped like the crescent moon outside split his face and a hand appeared out of the darkness with a wave.

“Hello, my friends.”

“Ah, shit. It’s him again.”

 


	3. In Their Arms

A hundred pairs of eyes glared at the hunter siblings.

“You brought t-that  _ thing _ here! You’re cursed!” one of the passengers yelled, inciting other similar curses and shouts throughout the train. 

Jesse’s mouth twitched. “Spoke too soon, darl’. Your number one fan came to visit you.”

“He probably came for you, sweetheart.”

“Aww, how did you know? It was supposed to be my dirty little secret.” Jesse stood up with a palm outstretched towards Angela, ignoring the multitude of jeers and curses from the crowd. “Shall we?”

She could only sigh. “We have to, don’t we?” she said as she placed her hand in his.

Firmly slipping his arm around her waist, he easily leapt off the seats, launching them high towards the hole. His metallic hand gripped onto the edges of the hole and hoisted Angela up before swinging his legs and pushing his body through. In the darkness, they came face to face with a familiar face, one that they’ve been seeing unwilling for the past half year. The same scarred face, bright green hair and beady red eyes, but the only difference was that instead of a twisted expression, the vampire before them had an excited gaze as he stared at Angela. His eyes were opened wide with lips curved into a pleasing smile.

Jesse was certain if he had a tail, it would definitely be swishing side to side like a cat. A very big, dangerous fur-less cat. But still dangerous.

“What do you want, Genji?” Jesse asked.

Genji pointed a finger at Angela. “Her blood.”

Jesse’s left eye twitched in annoyance. “No.”

“It’s not your blood.”

“She’s my sister.”

“So?”

“Of course there’s no way I’d be willing to hand her blood over to you!” Jesse growled and pounced to tackle the crouched vampire.

Genji simply took a big step backwards and the hunter landed right in front of him. “Why not?” 

“Because you’re a monster —”

“Jesse!” 

The hunter in question wiped off his sneer as he turned to frown at Angela. Seeing her dissatisfaction, he stayed silent. He watched grudgingly as Genji sauntered over to Angela, not before shooting him a mocking smirk. 

“You’ll keep your promise, won’t you?” Angela narrowed her eyes.

“Of course. I never go back on my word,” Genji turned his nose up into the air and she could only sigh and smile helplessly. 

Genji held out his hand and she lifted her arm towards him. Jesse, despite his mind telling him to stop them, to rip Genji away, continued to silently watch as the vampire pulled her sleeve back and brought her right arm to his lips. The arm that was marred with multiple fang marks that hadn’t yet healed. The arm that the damned vampire had drunk her blood from for the past weeks. And in return, he wouldn’t hunt any other humans. 

All because her blood somehow tasted painfully sweet. That something drew him in and latched onto him like a hook.

It was supposed to have been a quick affair. Bite, suck, leave.

But a deep rumble rattled the train, the heavy vibrations striking the metal like an earthquake had hit. Angela held onto Genji as he quickly held her and leapt away into the nearby cliffs. 

“Jesse!”

“I’m alright, darl’. Don’t you worry your pretty little head.” The hunter slowly got to his feet with a rub of his temple. He had gotten quite the nasty fall when he tried to recover but a warmth did bloom in his heart when he felt that she still worried about him.

_ And here I thought she was only thinking about that vampire. What makes him so different about the rest?  _ He cursed mentally, throwing a few heated glares at Genji, who knowingly, tilted his head slightly and sent him an arrogant look.  _ Just you wait, I will kill you when given the chance. _

In the sudden silence, a loud roaring echoed as the train got back to life and immediately fled the scene, uncaring about having lost its passengers. They just wanted to get away from the vampires!

“There goes our ride…” Jesse frowned, his eyebrows dipped into a deep ‘V’.  _ Could this day just get any worse? _

Right as the thought manifested itself in his head, he let the word ‘Shit!’ slip out of his mouth as a sharp piercing bang zipped through the air. He spoke too soon! The ground where Genji and Angela were shattered as debris flew. Jesse looked over the arm covering his eyes and saw the pair gently landing on a spot a few meters further away from where the sniper bullet had hit. Following the trajectory and taking into account the direction of the wind, Jesse squinted at the opposite cliff peak and sure enough, he faintly caught the glint of metal, a stark contrast in the dark night sky. 

_ Peacekeeper can’t reach that far.  _

It could only be a sniper with that distance. Who though? Jesse shared a glance with Angela, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. 

‘We hadn’t offended anyone lately, have we?’

Before they could even ponder further, a horde of large shadows suddenly swooped down upon them like hungry vultures. 

“Where the fuck did they come from!?” Jesse swore as he ducked the clawed swipe at his head and rapidly fired off his revolver, accurately hitting three vampires in the neck. As he rolled to evade the stampeding vampires, he shot a few more times but was dumbfounded at the scene. Blood sprayed out, the wounded vampires jerked and slowed down, but  _ not one turned around _ . They were running in the direction of —

“Sis!”

Angela, still wrapped in Genji’s arms, watched the vampires rush at them with inhuman agility. Sunken faces of an unhealthy pallor were twisted in bloodthirst, spittle dripping down the sides of their mouths and spewing into the air. Their great cavernous eyes shined an extremely bloody colour, devoid of emotions and the cliff grounds shook at the pounding of their feet. 

_ Newborns. _

She wriggled out of Genji’s grasp, intending to fight them off when the vampire dug his tough nails into her arms and thigh.

His nose twitched at the familiar electrifying sweet scent of her blood and with a quick glance down, he hurriedly slackened his grip but never released his hold. “No.” His voice came out deep, husky even and she watched as the mirth that danced in his eyes moments ago died, and the red colour darkened; The pair of red eyes she was somehow unafraid of. Not now at the very least.

Was it because she knew he was different? A vampire different from the rest? 

“Don’t leave my side.”

Oddly, she complied with his wishes.

Still in his crouch, Genji advanced rather than retreat. With a push off his toes, he leapt towards the vampire spearheading the crowd. Keeping one strong arm around the hunter, he ruthlessly slashed at the vampire woman, scoring five deep gashes across her face and down to her body. Her incoherent screams gurgled and died away as Genji bit down, sinking his fangs as deep as he could till his cheeks touched her cold flesh, and ripped apart her neck. 

Angela clung onto his neck as he dipped down and twisted at the waist. His long legs snapped and kicked out from behind. The dorsal of his foot landed squarely at the temple of an ambushing vampire, the strength sending him flying into the crowd, and knocking them over like bowling ball hitting its pins.

When she was stable again in his arms, Angela rapidly snapped back the slide, press checked her gun and expertly shot at another vampire ambushing them from behind. It hit the creature in the cheek before a second bullet pierced through his neck. 

Genji zipped and danced through the crowd of demons, brutally slashing and killing those of his kind. He elegantly hopped to the side and Angela retaliated with a silver bullet to the face of a vampire as Genji latched onto his neck. With a smirk, he exerted all the strength in his hand, nails digging into the flesh and with a satisfactory crunch, the neck was snapped like a twig before he backflipped, the ground he stood on caving in from the sniper bullet. He threw the corpse aside. 

“You alright, darl’?” came Jesse’s voice laden with fatigue as they finally regrouped.

“You’ve seen better days, Jesse.” Blood stained his trimmed beard, trickling down the sides of his face. Holes and rips filled his clothes, cuts and bruises visible through the bare skin, but his eyes maintained a burning light.

“I sure have.” He side-eyed Genji and punched at another vampire with a left hook, swinging his other arm out to fire a bullet into his forehead. “They’re after you.”

“Good to know you have eyes, hunter.” Genji ducked the kick to his head and bounced up with an uppercut, the resounding crunch telling them that her neck was broken. 

“Are you implying that I don’t use ‘em!?” Jesse growled, offended at the vampire’s tone. He, the hunter that could shoot anything with a deadeye precision, was called blind!? “I should have dragged you down to hell the first time we met!”

“Nah, you couldn’t. You’d make our Angie sad,” Genji mockingly purred, tilting his body in a downwards side angle and sent yet another vampire flying with a kick. “You know she loves me.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Aww, you don’t have to deny it, darl’.”

Angela shuddered. Jesse snarled. 

“It’s creepy coming from you. /Don’t call her that!”

Genji simply shrugged. “She will be, eventually.”

Angela pursed her lips and stuck the muzzle of her gun below his jaw. “Try me.”

“You sure you didn’t mean ‘Bite me’?”

“You already do.”

Genji playfully growled and winked at the unamused hunter in his embrace. “Rawr, I’d like to keep doing it too.”

“Stop flirting with my sister, damnit! And do something about these vampires! We still have the sniper to worry about!”

Genji shrugged as he evaded an attack. “The sniper won't kill me. She wants me.”

“Then go already. We don't want you.”

“Jesse!”

“She'll probably kill you though. But not milady, since she's with me.”

Gasp. “Genji!”

Seeing the two boys bicker back and forth brought upon a dull throbbing headache. She rubbed her temples, gun still in hand.  _ How did I end up with these kids? _

“Whoa, milady. Watch where you’re pointing that,” Genji tilted his head back away from the muzzle but Angela softly growled and stuck it underneath his jaw anyway. 

“Stop joking around. We have a mess to deal with!” Jesse snickered at the side while Genji grinned. “And you stop arguing with him too! Or I'm giving your third gift to him.”

Jesse gasp dramatically and placed a metal hand over his heart. “You dare.”

“Ooh, present,” Genji purred. “Do I get it if I clear these ants?”

“Whoever gets this shit cleaned and us out of here gets it.”

“Sis!”

“I’m tired, Jesse. And I wanna go home.” Angela slumped defeatedly in a stiffened vampire’s arms. It had been over a month since she had gone home… since she had a proper break. The missions to clear the vampires had taken a long time, with the vampire couple the last two. She eyed the never-ending crowd. “But it doesn’t seem like we can do that anytime soon.”

They had ran into the forest by the cliffside with the vampires in pursuit. And they wouldn’t be able to throw them off either. 

“These newborns are relentless!” Jesse cussed as they ran, ducking and jumping over branches and roots. “You said the sniper wants you. Why?”

Genji shrugged and didn’t reply.

Angela lightly tugged onto his collar and gazed up at him with gentle eyes. “Did she send all these newborns after you?”

Genji glanced down and nodded.

“That’s quite the army for one person.”

He shrugged again. 

Angela scanned his nonchalance, an uneasiness rising in her heart. She wanted to call out his name, to ask him what’s wrong but the words were lodged in her throat. She… couldn’t bring herself to ask, when all of a sudden, there was a rush of wind in her ears and her body felt light, as if — 

“McCree, catch!”

“Huh — Ah!” Jesse had been delaying the vampires and dodged the sniper bullet when he turned around, and hastily caught the figure thrown. “Genji? What are you —”

“Bring her home, will you?” The green haired vampire gave him a smile before planting his feet on the ground, forcefully turning himself around and dashed straight into the crowd of newborns happily snarling, clawing and biting into him. 

Jesse gritted his teeth and nodded his head even though Genji couldn’t see it in the midst of battle. His body itched to fight, to kill every single vampire lest they kill them, but instead, he brought a screaming Angela away, mentally sending the green haired vampire a thank you. 

_ He… looked almost human. _

“Jesse! What are you doing? We got to go back!”

“No, we can’t. I’m nearly out of bullets and so are you. We can’t handle that kind of crowd.” He gave her a hard look. “And I agreed to bring you home. So that’s where we’re headed.”

“But…” Angela bit her bottom lip, but not hard enough to draw blood in case she drew their attention,  her eyes never straying from the one man — yes, man, not a creature — that seemed different from the rest. Genji could still show emotions, still reacted and carried himself like any other young man would. But it was the restraint of his vampiric desires that gave Angela an inkling… An inkling that the man didn’t really wish to… hurt her?

As his figure got further and further away, Angela clutched hard onto Jesse’s arm as she chewed on her bottom lip. She watched him punch and kick the newborn vampires, snap and rip their throats out, and just before they disappeared into the shadows, she swore:

Genji turned and waved at her with a smile. 

———

_ The scent of sweet fresh blood. The vampire snapped his head towards Angela in that split second. Panicked, Jesse twisted his body and leapt towards her, but the biting winds at his face and the blood splattering into the night like a blooming red lily told him all he needed to know. _

_ With all the strength left in his body, he pushed his legs faster, even just the bit more would help. He needed to get closer. Throw the vampire off his sister. He aimed his revolver. A bullet did fly faster than his feet.  _

_ The shot cracked like thunder and the vampire’s body jerked when his shoulder was hit, but as though it was nothing, he proceeded to run towards Angela. That sweet smell. So intoxicating. So…  _

_ “Ahhh!!”  _

_ Her screams clawed at the hunter’s quivering heart. Antagonising, piercing screams. Angela watched wide-eyed at the vampire whose fangs sank deep into her right forearm. Blood poured down her arm, dripping from the punctured holes of her flesh, the metallic smell assaulting her senses. Her eyes blurred at every second as she writhed and tried to yank her arm free, but the vampire was frozen on the spot.  _

_ She couldn’t feel the pulling sensation of liquid away from her veins. Nor the stinging sensation of the vampire’s poison invading her bloodstream. He wasn’t sucking. He wasn’t turning her into a vampire, though not like he could. Calming down ever so slightly, her chest heavily rose and fell, and she pushed his face away. Contrary to her expectations, the vampire simply fell away like a house of cards, his fangs sliding out of her arm with a pained and shocked expression colouring his pale face. _

_ “Sis! Oh my god. Sis!” _

_ Jesse arrived at that point, instantly picking her up and distancing themselves from the vampire, but as if that had been the trigger, the vampire awoke from its stupor and dashed in front of runaways. The bright red gleam seemed to have dimmed as he stared down at the frightened female who was clutching at her arm like a frightened bunny looking up at the fox.  _

_ “Leave her and I’ll let you live,” came his deep, husky voice. His instincts yearned for more, more of that blood. It tasted different from any other blood that he had, and he wanted  _ **_more._ **

_ “Fuck you!”  _

_ Jesse twisted his body and swung his leg out at the vampire’s head with Angela still in his arms, but the creature simply leapt back and snarled.  _

_ “She tastes different.” The vampire missed the expression that flashed across Angela’s eyes, as though it seemed she knew… why. “I like it. I want more.” _

_ “Suck her dry and there’ll be none left,” Jesse seethed, holding his quivering sister tighter. He swore he would protect her. And he goddamn will.  _

_ The vampire paused and straightened his back. “Hmm… that is a good thought. How about we make a deal then?” _

_ “No.” _

_ “Every week that I come for a visit, you'll let me drink some of her blood.” The vampire licked his lips. _

_ “I said n —” _

_ “On the account, I hunt no other humans.” _

_ …  _

_ Jesse really wanted to say no, but Angela had already beaten him to it. Yet, his face held an expression of incredulous, frozen stiff stupid. He didn’t notice his fingernails digging hard into her skin, the anger that rolled off his muscles, the hard twitch of the vein on his temple.  _

_ Why? Why was his sister so… so! Argh! He wants to call her stupid but at the same time, he knew, goddamn  _ **_knew_ ** _ , she was always like this! Always too kind, always so forgiving. So helpful! That bastard didn’t deserve her blood. Those humans she probably saved in the future would never know either! That, that… she…  _

_ With his shoulders slumped in defeat, arms relaxing and giving up all the strength, Jesse held back all his emotions and turned his head up, forcing the stubborn wetness back at the unshakable tone of her voice. _

_ “Deal.” _


	4. Only The Beginning

The silence was heavy between them, one person on either sides of the train. It was deserted in the train, barely another living soul besides the few students grouped in a corner and an elderly lady going home, besides Angela and Jesse. 

Her legs wouldn’t stop twitching as she repetitively curled and uncurled her toes. Her teeth was continuously lodged in her bottom lip, eyes blankly staring out the window, unregistering the blur of scenery that rushed by. 

Directly across on the left was Jesse McCree, head lowered with elbows heavy on his thighs. With a groan, he dragged a hand down his face before sliding it up and over his head, combing the messy strands of his hair back. Dropping his free hand on his cowboy hat occupying the space next to him, his eyes darted over towards the blonde woman of a sister who was equally hunched over as he was. 

 

_ “Jesse! No!”  _

_ Her shrieks fell on deaf ears. Jesse tightened his hold on her body while he ran, ran as far as he could go, leaping over the roots and fallen branches, making a beeline towards even the smallest sign of civilisation.  _

_ “Let go of me! We can’t just leave him there!” _

_ “No can do, sis.” There it was again. ‘Sis’. The underlying tone of seriousness and absolute defiance to any of her requests. Not taking any bullshit from anyone, not even her.  _

_ She screamed his name again, pounding her fists onto his back. Bloody scenes filled her mind, the anxiety painting a gruesome play of shredded limbs, broken bones, and the lone, desolate curve of his back, as though he gave up on living, on  _ **_fighting_ ** _.  _

_ “Fuck! Jesse, we have to go back!” _

_ Jesse dug his nails into her skin, bearing the pain with gritted teeth. His head still throbbed with pain from the fall, and she wasn’t the only one screaming at him. His muscles wanted to give up, to break down, stabbing pains shocking his nerves, but he focused on putting one foot after the other. He needed to run. Keep running. _

_ He needed to bring her back to safety. _

_ Angela fought and wiggled out of his grasp, her mind filled with only the smile Genji last gave her, and that small wave of his hand. He’s all alone, fighting those horde of vampires alone! And that sniper! Weren’t they after him!? As if by a stroke of luck, she successfully hammered her knee into Jesse’s stomach, and the man doubled over in pain, grip loosening and sending her tumbling forward. _

_ “Oof!” A sharp pain shot up her neck as her back hit the sturdy wall of a stump, and painful groans drifted into her ears. Her eyes flew open, directly landing upon the young cowboy hunched over, arms wrapped around his middle. “Jesse? Jesse!” She scrambled over, tripping over the propped root and falling onto her knees before him. She hadn’t kicked him that hard, did she? It shouldn’t have caused him this much pain!  _

_ Her hands trembled as they reached out towards him. Now, it was only now that she took a good look at him. Soft brown locks matted and stuck to his face, sticky with sweat. Splats of blood caked his skin, from his cheeks to his neck, and definitely over his clothes, but as her eyes moved downwards, they widened as fear struck her hard.  _

_ A large patch of eerie crimson extended its greetings towards her, the pool growing bigger and bigger, all the while Jesse pressed a hard hand onto the wound. _

 

Jesse glanced down at his black undershirt, having thrown his shirt away after being stained by blood. They barely passed the checks even with his stained undershirt, the dried blood barely visible over the black, and with Angela blocking the view from the front. Security had been suspicious, warily watching them with narrowed eyes at their staggered, slow steps, and laboured breathing. 

But at least they got home.

The pair of siblings stared up at the three storey house, brick walls painted a clean white, tall silver gates bordering its large perimeter with lush trees providing a curtain to what’s inside. 

Angela gingerly held onto Jesse as she tapped the four-numbered pin and the side gate opened with a click, and closing behind her with a light kick and a loud clang. 

“Angie!” A raspy voice called out. A figure padded his way over with arms open wide, face marked with the vicissitudes of life and a bright smile. His blond hair faded into a silvery white but unlike other old men his age, his head still had a full head of hair, and that was something he was still proud of. 

Angela’s eyes, tired and rimmed with shadows, lit up at the sight of her grandfather. “Grandpa!”

“Come here, my darling angel.” He kissed her hard on the temple, ignoring the spluttering of a certain cowboy in her arms. “I’m so glad that you’re finally home. Are you alright?”

“Yes, grandpa. But we need to tend to Jesse. He’s been wounded.”

The old man scoffed, eye rolled at Jesse and gave the younger man a pointed look. “Weren’t you supposed to be tough? ‘Those vampires ain’t got anything on me!’, or something. Didn’t you tell me that?” The grandfather mocked with a badly done accent, his arms crossed over his broad chest.

A pleasant laughter bounced on Jesse’s chest. “It sounds funny coming from you, old man. Good to see you’re alive and still kicking.”

“And I can easily kick you a hundred meters away if you weren’t injured!”

Altherr Ziegler was an old man in his mid-60’s, standing tall and proud at nearly two meters. His biceps were still bigger than his own (and there’s no way Jesse would acknowledge that. His were always going to be bigger) and he was still as fit as a fiddle, as healthy as an ox even.

“Come on. I’ve already prepared the room just in case.” A warm, deep voice carried over from the door, watching the trio slowly make their way over amidst their banter.

Jesse looked at the man leaning against the doorframe. Unlike Altherr who was musclebound, Wendell Ziegler was tall and wiry. His body was lean and defined, blond hair tied into a low ponytail. Rectangular glasses framed his vivid blue eyes and the cowboy’s lips twitched upon seeing the smile on the man’s face. From the hair, to the eyes and to even the smile.

_ Like father, like daughter indeed. _

Wendell helped his daughter bring Jesse into the medical ward of the house, set aside for emergencies like this. Altherr wordlessly stood outside the door, watching his son and granddaughter do their medical magic through the small window. He clicked his tongue, seeing them clean the wound, flit and stitch it with deft fingers, made him clueless yet proud. He knew the young cowboy was definitely going to live. 

Enough for him to beat him up again.

“Done? Is he done?” Altherr voiced out, an eagerness unmasked in the tone.

Angela and her father cleaned themselves before bringing a bandaged Jesse out of the room. Altherr trailed behind them like an oversized puppy. When they set him down in a clean bed, he repeated again: “Done? Is he  _ finally _ done?”

Angela giggled and held onto her grandfather’s hand. “Yes, yes. He is, grandpa. What’s wrong?”

The old man beamed, stretching the laugh lines on his face and patted her hand lovingly. “Come! Grandpa has something for you!”

At the mention of a gift, Jesse shot up but he groaned and fell back down onto his back. “Gift? I wanna see too,” he whined.

“It’s not for you,” Altherr snapped, bringing his granddaughter away.

“Rest well, Jesse.” Wendell graciously wished before closing the door behind him, leaving the young man to his sulking.

Alther set his granddaughter on the three-seater couch of the living room before running upstairs. Angela faintly heard the sound of metal clanking and doors slamming, before an excited grandfather bounded down the steps. Her father watched in amusement at his own father, sitting on the sofa on the other side of the couch. Turning her head at the nearing footsteps, the smile on her face froze. 

“Is that…?”

“The one and only! Our ancestral weapons: Caduceus Staff and Blaster!” Altherr plopped himself down onto the space next to her and gently set the two weapons in her lap. The staff’s body gleamed an inky black with a silver head and the blaster was similarly coloured.

“But why…?”

She knew of the two weapons, having been brought down generation after generation, but all this time, she didn’t think they worked, having only ever seen and heard of them.

“As you know, our family is a descendent of Angels,” Altherr began solemnly. “And unlike other hunters, we rely on our blood to sense and hunt the vampires. The reason you hadn’t seen it being used is because our blood wasn’t strong enough.” He folded her hands over the weapons. “But yours is.”

She spluttered some words, half formed from confusion and shock. Her mind was reeling at the turn of events. Half her heart was beating furiously at the pride and happiness at being given the responsibility, to actually be acknowledged,  _ strong _ , yet it was that very same responsibility that weighed down on her like a ten tonne boulder, pushing her shoulders down and holding her there. 

Could she do it? What if she disappoints everyone?

“I was supposed to give it to you on your 21st birthday but…” Altherr trailed off in a nervous laugh, the words stuck in his throat. 

“Father forgot where he left it. So he never gave it to you. That’s why he was so excited the moment you came home,” Wendell filled in, cheeks on his knuckles and a leg over the other.

“Wendell!”

Instead, Wendell chuckled and grinned at the frantic spluttering of his father, but his eyes turned worried as they landed on his daughter’s quiet figure. Her head remained lowered, fingers absentmindedly stroking the metal on her lap. He furrowed his brows.

What was she thinking?

 

———

 

Red. It was only red in her vision. That dark, sinister colour painted everything in her sight, the Caduceus weapons turning into backdrop as blood spilled.

She squeezed her eyes shut. 

 

_ It had been the scent that day. Their sweet, young fleshed aroma that counted. Their sugar levels were high, having been only 15 years old. The vampire had been like an uncontrollable diabetic and the first crazed one of their kind. _

 

Her eyelashes trembled, her eyes squeezed shut tighter.

 

_ The warm blood splattered onto her fear-laden face. Her body froze. Her muscles were heavy, stuck to the ground, unmoving. His voice, just having cracked from puberty, screamed. Screamed so loud, so terrified. But she couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t even twitch. Couldn’t even goddamn scream.  _

_ She didn’t know what to do. _

_ “J-Jesse…” _

_ Her voice came out weak, utterly weak that even she was disgusted. _

 

_ Swoosh! _

_ A gust of wind blew with a dark, lithe silhouette dropping besides the pair of hunter siblings. Hidden by the shadows, the figure easily ripped the diabetic vampire away from Jesse’s neck and sunk his own teeth in his new victim’s neck. _

_ Why it chose the vampire and not Jesse? … was something they couldn’t comprehend.  _

_ And it had happened all in practically three breaths; The time short enough that Jesse wouldn’t turn into a vampire even if he wanted to.  _

_ When Jesse slumped forward, hand clutching his bleeding neck, Angela swore as she caught his body, wishing and hoping that she just had something,  _ **_anything_ ** _ , to patch him up. But she didn’t.  _

_ The bone crunching crunch and slurps caught her attention, yet all her eyes could catch in the utter darkness was a glimpse of bright green hair crowning a pair of demonic red eyes. _

 

The scene faded and blurred. The darkness stayed. But instead of a bleeding, screaming Jesse came the screams of another young man, no,  _ vampire _ . He was being ripped limb by limb, scratched and torn by a horde of newborns, all because he wanted to protect. Her. Protect her. She didn’t know if he escaped, or if he was even still alive. 

The smile he threw her way, that wave he waved before Jesse dragged her away, that heart-wrenching, gut-stabbing pain in her soul; She couldn’t forget. 

She wouldn’t forget.

If only she had the ability, the strength, then things would turn out differently. If she could protect others and protect herself, wouldn’t that change so many things? Not just to her as a vampire hunter, but as a combat medic. 

Gripping onto the staff and blaster, Angela’s eyes glazed over with a newfound resolution, and the silent men in her life could see it, the change happening in her mind, in her spirit. They watched her lift her head, a fire blazing in her gaze, and they knew they made the right choice in entrusting the Angelic articles to her.

“Thank you.”

Just those two words, nothing more, nothing less. It was her pledge to them and they understood the silent pledges; She believed she could save the world, both humans and vampires alike.

And they believed she could change the world the way she wanted to. 

One step at a time. 

 

The door to his temporary room slid open and Angela emerged from the doorway. He was pleasantly surprised to see her there when surprised crossed his face upon catching sight of the staff in hand and blaster holstered on her waist, and to complete the oddity, there was a brown box tied with a big red bow in her arms.

“What’s that, darl’?”

She beamed at him. “Your last gift.”

Jesse grinned at the box shoved into his arms, body jumping in excitement. Who wouldn’t from being given three birthday gifts? The suspense could have killed him! Tearing open the bow, he lifted the cover just as Angela sat on the edge of his bed, watching his face change from surprise to utter glee.

“BAMF indeed!” he exclaimed in joy, removing the belt from within the box. The gold buckle was engraved with the same four letters in uppercase on a neat leather strap. “You spoil me too much!”

Angela hurriedly leaned over and accepted his hug so that he wouldn’t have to move too much, and accidentally straining,  _ as well as _ ripping the stitching open. Knowing him? Possibility of that happening was well within the 90’s. This brother of hers couldn’t stay still no matter what.

“Happy 21st birthday,” she softly said with a smile.

Jesse caressed the leather, a loving gaze in his eyes. From the cowboy hat, to his Peacekeeper and now the BAMF belt. He didn’t think things could get any better.

Oh, yes. He didn’t have to watch the unrestrained flirting of that damned green-haired vampire. 

Other than that, he was blissful.

“Grandpa gave this to me just now,” she showed him the weapons, finally getting to the main point she came in instead of letting him rest. “As a late birthday gift.”

He nodded at the weapons. “Did the old man forget where he left them and that’s why he gave them to you now?”

Her mellifluous laughter made him grin wider. “You sure know him well. It’s our Angelic artifacts from way back when. To fight against the vampires.”

Jesse nodded. He knew of the family’s Angel’s blood, that they were all descendents. “What does it do?”

“I’ll show you.”

She lifted the staff, hand in the center of the body and clicked onto a mechanism with her thumb. The three ribs at the head of the staff flicked open and a yellow halation appeared. The blood in her veins boiled, rushing faster at the sudden connection between her and the staff, and willing it in her mind and thumb still on the button, she gently waved it towards his wound. A yellow ball of light separated from the halation, extending out into a beam that floated towards the side of his body.

It was an icy, itchy sensation the moment the beam touched him. His muscles shivered, mind refreshed with the chill and he  _ felt _ it close. The wound that was held together with the stitches twitched and waved towards the other edge, skin automatically grafting together and swiftly closing. Gasping, he threw the blankets off and lifted his side, inspecting the wound he — the wound that  _ was supposed to be there _ .

“Holy shi—” Jesse’s mouth gaped open. Sure, he had thought that the Angels were cool, but not  _ this  _ cool. 

Now this, this topped it off. Cowboy hat, revolver and BAMF belt could only come second to this. Alright, maybe not. Those three still meant a whole lot. It’s a close battle for first place. 

Angela also leaned over to inspect the wound, glad that it had disappeared with a simple heal. Her thoughts wandered over to a certain vampire whose smile she couldn’t erase. “Now you can keep going. I’ve got you.”

 

———

 

Haa…

A breathy mist drifted out of his mouth, white fangs drenched in blood. A pile of newborn corpses lay by his feet in a mound, strewn over the trees and covered the ground.

His demonic red eyes darted up towards the opposite canyon where the sniper’s glint was not seen in the last hour. They flickered with an intense heat, the glare almost burning through the thick clouds that obscured the sky. Despite the weariness in his bones, the aching of his muscles, it did little to diminish the hate that he kept buried inside. 

“It’s not over yet.”

The face of a gentle smile flickered in his mind and the anger promptly sizzled away like a bucket of cold water splashing his face, and he found his own lips curving upwards at the mere thought of seeing her. 

“It’s definitely not over yet.”


	5. A Little Bit of Bitterness, A Little Bit of Sweetness

The door closed behind her with a click and a lock; the electronic lock beeped mechanically as the inner mechanisms slid the lock through for a thorough lock. Her feet lightly strode across the carpeted flooring in the dimness, the fur soft and warm in the late Autumn weather. The cloudy night sky peered at her through the window by her bed, the curtains billowing when a breeze scurried through the crack. 

_ Did I not close my window? _

Setting Caduceus weapons on her bed, she leaned on the edge of her bed with her knee and promptly pulled the curtains shut, before leaning back on her feet, unworried about the small crack in the window. She set the box of chocolates on her bedside table and set the handphone to charge.

_ I can just close it in a bit. _

Her fingers, white as snow, slid down the sides of her body and gripped at the hems, lithely pulling it up and over her head. Slipping a finger into her rubber band, she pulled it off and shook her hair free, the same slim fingers combing through the blonde locks slightly sweaty and matted from events that just passed. It tumbled down her shoulders in loose, messy waves, protecting the bare skin with what little heat it could provide as a cover. Shimming out of her sweat-soaked, dirt-stained pants, her gaze landed on the Angelic weapons lying on her blanket that gleamed dimly in the darkness as her legs stepped out of the pooled fabric by her feet. She turned around fully and bent down to caress the metal, her hair falling like a curtain and tickling the top of her chest, exposing her neck to the chill. 

Caduceus Staff. Caduceus Blaster. 

Her index finger slid down the staff’s shaft, stopping by the button’s mechanism. It felt oddly warm to touch, like a steady warmth of a firefly’s glow in the spring night, but it called out to her; Her blood pulsed in her fingertips, a steady beat of the drums that beated faster, and faster. Until -

_ Thud. _

“Who’s there!?”

 

…

 

A deep resigned sigh drifted into the night. He gently moved to close the window when his body froze. He sniffed the air and perked up with a grin. It was her scent! And from the movements, this was her in person. Vaulting away from the half-closed window and landing on the neighbouring rooftop, he watched with amusement the antics of her family, and when he saw them exchange hugs, a slight melancholy welled up within him. He remembered wrapping his arms around himself, tighter when he heard their laughter and giggles, a frown carved on his lips. 

The sounds of happiness died as they entered the house and he laid down onto the rooftop tiles in an eagle spread with a heavy breath of air. The edges were sharp and stabbing his spine, but he made no effort to move. He gaze into the void. There was an absence of sounds, absolutely nothing. No birds, no humans; Only the occasional whistling of winds with the breeze. 

He sighed yet again. 

His crimson gaze stared at the vast darkness in the sky with lips pursed, hair ruffling in the wind. His scarred face was clean of blood, not even a speck could be seen, but dried blood - not his - were splattered all over and caked his slightly torn clothes.

“Ugh… is she even done?”

Genji rolled onto his side, watching her large house with a trace of boredom. He propped himself up onto an arm, the other hand rubbing the rough surface of the tiles. He had rushed over immediately after killing the last newborn, cleaned his face and straightened his unruly hair, but when he tracked down her scent, it had brought him to that house, but she wasn’t home when he arrived. 

She was now.

…

He rubbed his nose at the sudden heavy smell of blood. 

_ Jesse’s _ . 

“They’re probably performing surgery on him right now…”

With another groan, he dropped his head onto his upper arm, the hand dangling above lifelessly playing with his hair. Jesse’s blood tickled his senses, his nose scrunching up at the aroma on his tongue, and as he took notice of the scent, it suddenly grew in intensity.

_ Blood. BLOOD. Drink! _

_ No! _

_ Yes. No. It does not taste as nice as hers. Hers. I NEED HERS. _

**_Stop! No!_ **

Growls erupted at the back of his throat, the sound a heavy tremble and dark. The two pairs of canines on his teeth elongated into fangs; really sharp, really pointy fangs. They were curved nearer to the tips, the pale whiteness glinting sharply, but under the capture of moonlight, they gleamed a tinge of red, a dark shade of bloodlust that mirrored the crimson glare in his eyes. 

_ Go! She’s inside! I can smell her! DRINK IT! _

_ Stop - no - please - DON’T! _

He wanted to jump, to go over and sink his teeth into that delicious, smooth skin, lick at the blood that trickled down, trail his tongue around her neck as he gripped her body, flushing it with his cold one. Smother his face with the warmth of her sweet red wine. Intoxicating. Addictive. 

The raised arm fell with a thunderous crash. Sharp fingernails clawed and dug at the terracotta tiles, some slipping and falling as he forcefully stopped himself. The vampiric blood within him pulsed, the beat heavy. It suffocated him, like a large black claw that curled around his neck, pressing down on his trachea and blocking his airways, leaving only just the most miniscule amount to go through. With a snarl, his eyes glowed a brighter red when the pale moonlight casted over his hunched form. His growls deepened and the voice in his head grew louder, enticing him, no -  _ commanding _ \- him to go over. She was so close. That sweet, sweet wine that’s perfectly aged.

And then the wind blew.

_ Snap! _

Faster than the breeze, darker than a black blur with two streaks of red lights, Genji left merely an afterimage on the destroyed roof tiles as he vaulted onto her windowsill, making a beeline for the rich scent that peeped out the crack of the window. A hand shot out towards the glass and stopped himself in time from slamming through as he heavily landed on the wooden sill. His growls softened as he moaned at the delicious smell assaulting his senses. It smelled stronger this time, like a womanly pheromone that teased at his instinctual desires. 

Ripping open the window, he pulled the curtains open. The crack of gunshot came faster than the bullet itself. With a hand gripping the window’s edge, his body hung loosely in the air as a barrage of bullets blasted through, missing him by mere inches.

“Genji?”

The soft voice cut through the violence in his mind like a knife to butter, slicing open the darkness that shrouded his conscious. Beams of light seeped through the cut, a blinding white in his eyes. A silhouette bathed in the same light gradually blurred into sight whilst being surrounded by shadows, and he froze on the spot. 

There in the halation stood she. Fair slender arms gripped at the blanket covering her front and he trailed them towards her shoulders, her collarbone… neck, and he had to swallow the saliva that gathered in his mouth. A slight pink tint was flushed over her skin and he could hear the steady thumping of her blood being pumped through her veins. 

“Genji?”

He raised his gaze to meet hers, seeing the fury dissipate into worry and an inexplicable sense of warmth bloomed.

Angela frowned when he remained unresponsive. Clutching the blanket tighter and drawing it higher to her chin seeing as she was cladded in only her undergarments, she took a small step forward. It was a small sign, barely noticeable to those ignorant, but she saw it as clear as day. His body stiffened, the muscles of his fingers tensing as the wood groaned under his strength, and his blood red eyes hungrily eyeing every bare inch of her skin, but it was the restraint - like that of a predator unwilling to feed. His limbs trembled as he forced himself to hold back, planting his feet by the sill unmoving even an inch. He bit his bottom lip, drawing them tight together, only his eyes were consciously allowed to roam freely. His chest heaved with heavy pants, faint tendrils of its warmth caressing the peak of her nose, cheeks and lips. 

Daringly, she stared into his red eyes that bore straight into hers. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip when she noticed the tension around his mouth. Putting down her blaster, she adjusted the blankets to make sure she’s still covered as she lifted a knee onto the bed. 

“Angie!!” Rapid knocking thundered on her door, jolting both vampire hunter and the vampire awake from their daze. “I heard the blaster going off! Is everything okay? IS THERE A VAMPIRE!?”

“Grandpa!” Angela rushed to the door and flicked a switch on the electronic lock, its indicator going from green to red, and deadlocked it. “I’m okay! I’m changing my clothes! I was just testing the blaster just now.”

A soft growl echoed on the other side. “Don’t lie to me! I can sense the presence of a vampire!” His fist pounded on the thick wood. “Let me in!”

“Grandpa! No!” Angela instinctively locked the non-electronic lock of her door while leaning against it. “I’m seriously not dressed!”

“Angie!” Altherr screeched. “Go get dressed and open the door!”

“I swear there’s no vampire here! Are you sure you sensed right?”

“Are you calling me a liar!? The Angelic blood will never lie!”

Angela’s heart constricted at the hidden despair in his anger. She hadn’t meant to question him! Not like that, no. Her forehead rested upon the door, the feeling cool against her skin as her own wave of anguish washed over.  _ No… I didn’t mean that, grandpa. _

There was a pause when a gentler voice called, “Angie…”

“Daddy…” 

“I don’t know what’s happening but it’s a fact that we can sense a vampire near your room. Could you please get dressed and let us in? Just take it as a means to appease our hearts. Please? My little angel.”

The fingers on the door curled inwards as a conflicted expression appeared on her face. “O-Okay… let me go get dressed.”

She turned around, the long fabric of the blanket wrapping around her like the dress of a Greek goddess. Her eyelashes fluttered and the red eyes brightened into such vividness that she swore Genji would have swallowed her right there and then, but a similar hue crept up her cheeks, burned them with embarrassment when she realised her entire back, from shoulders to calves had been exposed, all for his eyes to devour. She motioned with a hand for him to leave, but the vampire was adamant in his spot. His body remained still but his eyes followed her every move, like a stone gargoyle watching her with its beady little eyes. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the blanket up higher to cover herself the best she could and randomly picked a large long sleeved shirt and shorts to put on. Her skin shivered with the gust of wind but she thought little of it. Running back towards the door, she threw the blanket on the bed without looking at the window and unlocked the door. 

_ If they see him, they see him. I’ll just have to convince them that he’s different from the rest. _

With a deep breath, she stepped aside and opened the door. 

Both Altherr and Wendell walked in with grim expressions. When Altherr looked at her, a lump rose in her throat and her heart was constricted even further, almost choking her with his gaze.  _ No… I wasn’t calling you a liar, grandpa.  _ But she couldn’t find the courage to defend herself, to explain the misunderstanding that happened. Yet, her grandfather only smiled dotingly and pinched her cheeks before following his son in inspecting the room. Angela nervously fidgeted with the hems of her clothes as they checked the insides of her room, from the messy bed to the ensuite bathroom, everything seemed in order. 

_ Huh? _

Angela was staring at the window, closed and untouched, with the curtains drawn even.

_ When did - _

“There really isn’t a vampire…” father-son duo lamented.

“But I really do feel one. Still do. ” Wendell frowned. He even looked graceful as he did. “I don’t recall any sightings of any vampires in the area. Even so, no vampires frequent this area.”

The area the Zieglers lived in were frequented by a lot of vampire hunters, having somehow converged and then made this place a rendezvous point. This was only because the Angels descendants that opposed the vampires lived in this place for generations. It was only natural for the vampire hunters to converge at this point, and like a natural repellent, vampires rarely visited the area. 

“Maybe I am getting old…” Altherr mumbled under his breath.

Angela scrunched up her face at the defeated hunch of her proud grandfather’s shoulders and a warmness invaded her eyes. Meekly, she took a deep breath and walked up to him, her fingertips touching his hand with the softest of touch. 

“Hmm? Oh, Angie. It’s alright. I can’t always be right,” he graced her with a smile and rested his hand over hers. It was warm, large and calloused over the years with lines that mirrored the vicissitudes of his life. 

“But…” How could she tell them? That they weren’t wrong, that there  _ was _ a vampire in her room. But Genji was different. She could tell he was different; Like how they could tell he was here, that they were right, she could sense the restraint shackling the vampire, the humane differences he showed from the little interactions they shared.

_ I won’t deny that it was because of the last battle that really showed me that he was different.  _

_ But he could have just wanted to have me as his exclusively. To not share me with anyone else. _

_...but didn’t drinking my blood…  _

Her thoughts were interrupted when thick calloused fingers pinched her cheeks unforgivingly. “You brat. Dared called me a liar,” Altherr grunted. “I’m no liar.” Angela sucked in a nervous breath.  _ No - I wasn’t - Please believe me - _ “But you aren't too. It’s fine. Maybe it was just a vampire in passing.”

“If that’s really the case, we’ll have to be vigilant.” Wendell frowned and pushed his glasses up higher. 

“I’ll leave that to you, son.” 

Wendell hummed in acknowledgement and turned to his daughter when the old man left the hallway. “That wasn’t very nice of you just now.”

“But -”

“No, listen. He was only caring for you and you said things him like that. Would you have liked it if you were in his position? Since when did I bring you up like that?”

“I didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?” 

“Accuse him of being a liar! I just asked if he sensed right! How does that make me accuse him of lying? I never -”

“I never said you did. All I said was that you weren’t very nice. Why are you being so defensive?”

“But -”

“No buts.”

The disappointment in her father’s eyes was an ice cold arrow shooting through her heart, piercing it mercilessly. Her eyes overfilled with a warm wetness and her surroundings fell away. The words she wanted to utter rammed into each other in her throat, fearful of escaping into the presence of her father. She wheezed and stubbornly wiped the falling tears with the back of her hands, trying her best to maintain a straight face but the guilt stung her eyes and cascaded away.

“Why are you crying? I didn’t scold you in any way. Why are you so sensitive?”

_ Sensitive _ . Just because she cared more, felt more, towards her own kind, the humans, even to vampires. Why was she so sensitive to feelings? Always, always since she was young. She was told time and time again that she was too sensitive.

“You need to learn how to separate your feelings from logic. You can’t always think with your emotions. Stop crying.”

She sucked in a cold breath. Her lips trembled violently. Her teary gaze fell on the frown and furrow on her father’s face, before she lost the courage and dropped it to the floor. Instead, she clenched her fingers, digging harder and harder into her palms as she focused on the teardrops that fell, creating small puddles of water by her feet. Her body jumped with her hiccups when she forced the sobs back down.

_ Why are you so sensitive? _

The question repeated in her mind again and again. 

_ I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to - why? If I’m so sensitive then I should just stop feeling. I shouldn’t care anymore. No more. If that’s what you want then... _

She failed to hear his dejected sigh and see the agony in his clear blue eyes. What he saw was like looking at the shell of a younger, female version of himself, but who he saw, inside, was his wife. His dear, beloved wife.

“Anyhow... be careful, Angie. You’re still a young girl. Make sure to close your curtains properly when you’re changing.”

Her cheeks reddened with a furious blush at a memory but she shut her eyes with a silent nod. Seeing his daughter avoiding his gaze, he merely replaced the frown with a doting smile even if she wouldn’t see it and closed the door behind him. When she heard the click, she dropped to the ground into a big heap as choked sobs and moans echoed loudly in her ears like a held back release. When she covered her mouth with her hands, she dug her fingernails into her cheeks with each sob that made itself known. 

_ No. Stop. Stop crying. _

Her hands slid down her neck and with a shaky breath, she proceeded to press down, until the air was oppressed and restricted from entering down her trachea, until her lungs burned and she choked what little sobs that managed to escape. The pain of her fingernails carving into her neck gave the smallest of reprieves from the dull throbbing of her heart. 

_ Don’t let them hear you crying. Stop. STOP! _

Altherr’s hunched back drifted into her mind and the sobs came out louder when her hands gripped agonisingly at her head. 

_ I didn’t mean to hurt grandpa. I didn’t mean to! _

_ I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please…  _

_ I’m so sorry! _

When she agonised and clawed at her pain, her handphone on charge suddenly rang. And it rant a few times, the customised ringtone getting on her nerves, but she knew the caller, and knowing him, he'd be persistent in his attempts. She shakily got to her feet, pushing with a hand on the tear-stained floor and making the muscles on her legs work. She dragged her feet to the bedside table.

_ Mr. Sexy Cowboy. _

When she saw the caller ID Jesse had set for himself, sad laughter filled the once tense silence. “What’s up, Jesse? Bored already?” She tried to keep her tone light but it cracked like a broken jade.

“Darl’? What happened?” Jesse’s worried voice occupied her mind and she felt the dying tears suddenly revive with a renewed vigor as they constantly streamed down the corners of her squeezed shut eyes. 

“N-Nothing. Just…” She wanted to tell him, to let him know, but it wasn’t a big deal. She was just called sensitive. Wouldn’t telling him that be exactly that? That she was sensitive? “I’m fine.”

The pause in his voice told her that he didn’t believe her but, “The old man made such a commotion I could hear it loud and clear down here.”

“...oh, it was nothing.”

There came that pause again on the other line. She knew that he knew better, but the walls had ears.

“If you say so.”

He hung up but immediately after, she received a text message.

 

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Why are you crying?

 

A wet chuckle filled her ears before she looked back at her phone and typed a reply.

 

Angela: I’m not. It was a figment of your imagination.

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Lies. You lie. I can hear the snot all the way from here. 

Angela: ...Jesse, please. I don’t want to talk about it. 

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: ...sigh. Sis, you know you have to let it out sometime right? And im here if you need me

Angela: You know I will… :/ I’m just not in the best state of mind now.

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Was it him? Did that vamp come again?

Angela: ...yes.

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Did he cause trouble for ya? Did they see him?

Angela: Nope and nope. He’s not here anymore. I’m not sure where he went either. Just suddenly closed my windows and poofed. 

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Lies. That vamp must still be around. He never fails to collect it >:(

Angela: It’s not that... I think I hurt my grandpa.

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Huh? How?

Angela: I said something wrong… and it sounded like I accused him of lying.

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding, darl’. I know that they know you didn’t mean it.

Angela: But...

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: You’re a sweet, kind hearted girl. In fact. You’re too kind!! 

Angela: … still doesn't change that I hurt grandpa. It hurts so bad. And I feel so bad. I really didnt mean to talk to him like that… i was just so… 

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: You didn't mean to. I'm sure you panicked and just said the wrong thing. It happens to the best of us. 

Angela: ...then aren’t I too sensitive?

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Yes.

 

She sharply inhaled at his instant reply and a new round of tears threatened to fall when her phone rang with rows and rows of new message.

 

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: But that makes you, you. If you were not sensitive, you wouldnt have been as kind as you are now

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Everytime Im sad, you’re sad. If Im hurt, you feel hurt. It sounds weird but it makes me feel less lonely

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: I dont think being sensitive is a bad thing at all

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: If you wanna cry, just cry. Dont keep it in. It’ll just bottle up and one day explode. Mr. Sexy Cowboy: And maybe that day is when you’ll really be so mean to others. Then you'll regret it

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: ...maybe you should just learn how to maintain the border between them?

Angela: …

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: Darl’?

Angela: ……. :'<

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: sis?

Mr. Sexy Cowboy: angie?

 

[…why arent you here? I need a hug ]

 

A sad sob left her lips. The words left unfinished. Burying her face in her arms, her fingers relaxed and she let the phone drop onto the bed, her unsent message a striking glare in the dark.  _ I’m so sorry, grandpa. I’m so sorry. Please don’t be sad. _

_ Why did I say that? Why did I protect Genji for? _

Did she see him as a human and that’s why? 

But he was a vampire through and through.

_ He’s different... _

But wasn’t she just food to him and nothing more? That all his actions of saving her, his jests, his flirts, were all a means to get her tied to him emotionally; that he was somehow humane again, that… he wanted to take advantage of her kindness and use it for his own benefits and him alone. 

The chill of the night breeze caught her attention. The window was open again and billowing curtains were drawn midway. Perched atop the sill was a silhouette whose features were shrouded in the darkness, but those pair of red eyes told her all she needed to know of his identity.

“Genji…”

It came out breathily, the tiniest of whisper hidden in the wind. Unlike moments ago, his posture was relaxed and the crazed crimson in his eyes was dimmed. He reached out a hand.

“Angie…”

Shutting her eyes, she allowed him to caress her tear-stained cheek with a finger. Cold. She hiccupped and tried to ease her breathing when the cold finger was replaced by a hand whose thumb rubbed the waterworks away. 

“I’m sorry.”

A whisper barely audible. Even softer than when she called his name. She opened her eyes and gazed into his. The corner of his eyes were downcast, eyebrows curved downward and melancholy clouded the gaze. 

A bitter smile. “Why are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Because of me… you…”

His words ended there. Uncertainty of what he  _ should _ be saying. His presence itself was an abomination. Unwanted. Unloved. A monster. He shouldn't even be alive. Even this, he was tearing her apart when he  _ didn’t  _ intend to. He should just leave. Don’t come back, don’t -

A gentle tug of his hand drew his attention and Angela pulled him further into his room, all sorts of caution thrown out the window. He resisted her pull but similarly to Jesse, she was persistent. She held onto his hand and tugged again, until he relented and hopped onto her bed, settling down on the comfortable mattress, although he still maintained a stiff back and refused to relax. She observed his frown, the scrunch in his eyebrows and nose. He kept himself away at an arm’s length, burrowing into the corner of her bed. She sensed the unease, the fear, and guessed that when he disappeared… he hadn’t been that far away. 

Silently, she raised her wrist towards his face. He stared at the scars,  _ his bite marks _ , as the sleeve drooped down and his lips trembled. 

_ I did this to her. _

The wrist came closer and he sucked in a breath. Warm, pulsing blood, so sweet to his senses. But he forced himself to look into her eyes, seeing the reddened rims and puffiness lining them, but once more, he saw no hate. Just sheer, pure gentleness and warmth. He gulped the lump in his throat and raised a hand to hold hers, rubbing his thumb across the veins that pulsed strongly beneath his fingertips.  He shut his eyes, bringing the tips of his fangs over the faint scars that have yet to disappear.

Silence. Suffocating silence.

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

“Haih…” Genji gently laid her wrist onto the bed, catching the confused look she gave him. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” A murmur in the darkness.

His lips parted, but no words came out. Why? Just exactly why didn’t he want to?

But most of all, why did he ache at seeing her tears? Why?

The instinctual need to feed on her blood was doused in a bucket of ice cold water, filed into a yellow folder and pushed to the back of his mind. Instead, he turned to fully face her and he looked at every inch of her face. Properly. From the strands of hair along the hairline; the beautiful arcs of her eyebrows; reddened whites of her still vivid blue eyes; the cute little nose; the flushed cheeks; the perfect bow of her pink lips curved into a frown. 

And oddly, he raised his arms and she watched them encircle her body, before the force pulled her into his embrace. A shiver racked through her body at the cold but she found herself shakily returning the hug. She sniffled at his gentleness, burying her glistening eyes into the planes of his shoulders. He was cold to the touch, even through the fabric of his clothes, but the hug warmed her insides, spreading to every inch of her being. 

He held still, unmoving as she drenched his shoulder with the new release of her fountain of tears. His arms hugged her shoulders and his head gently nuzzled the side of hers.

He then noticed the box of chocolates with wandering eyes, noting that they weren’t there before. He reached out behind her.

“Huh -”

A solid sweetness skated on her tastebuds, the mix of milk and white chocolate melting together in her mouth. She licked and sucked on it, and sniffled at the liquid that trickled down her nose. His soft chuckle caught her attention and he positioned a clean facial tissue by her nose, indicating with his eyes to blow, and so she did - like a little child blowing her nose with the mother. He deftly folded the tissue with a hand and brought it back to her nose, repeating it once more. Then he expertly lobbed the snot-filled tissue into the nearby bin. 

Angela watched with a small smile while the chocolate slowly melted. “I read that eating chocolates makes you happier,” he murmured. 

She nodded. They really do. It was a box of chocolates she had grabbed from the kitchen in passing to her room, and it was a delicious mix of sweetness and slight bitterness. When the warm chocolatey goodness slid down her throat, she found him holding another piece shaped like a seahorse to her lips. Obediently, she parted her lips and bit into the tail. She moaned at the taste, gradually feeling lighter at the blissful moment she was immersed in. With a gentle hand, she pushed the half bitten chocolate in his direction, wordlessly gesturing for him to try some too. 

Genji hesitated, eyes darting back and forth from her smile and the chocolate seahorse’s head. As he stared, the chocolate was suddenly removed from his fingers and smoothly popped into his mouth. The residual sweetness on his lips lingered as he tongued and played with the chocolate. His gaze dropped onto her hand whose fingers slowly moved to tracing the corners of his lips. The warm touch stopped at the scar by his bottom lip and he thought she’d be repulsed, but like before, he was graced with a smile. 

He chewed and swallowed the chocolate. 

Her fingers trailed higher onto his cheekbones, drawing the same arcs of the scars there. “Do they ever hurt?”

He shook his head. Yet, when he opened his eyes, he felt soft kisses of chapped lips being planted upon his face, like the gentle dips of a dragonfly. They followed the scars, from the forehead to his eyes, down to the nose and cheeks, but when she reached his lips, rather than kiss them full on, she bent down and kiss the ends nearer to his chin, stopping right there. 

She never questioned anything about him. He knew she was curious, about the scars, about his abnormal strength higher than other vampires, and maybe she was curious about the deal they made too. She still never asked.

“Here,” once again, she lifted her wrist and he stared at the scars that _he_ made. 

Taking her hand into his, he lifted it higher to his parted lips, but the bite never came. Like her, his scarred lips kissed the marks he created on her fair skin. He turned the wrist, making sure to cover every single one of them, sending a wistful wish for them to heal and clear. It was his fault her arm was not longer as beautiful as the world would have seen it, but he found an odd sense of beauty when he stared at them, at her. When he was done, he held her hand by the fingers and capturing her gaze with his, he kissed the back of her hand; This time, a longer, fuller kiss. 

When he looked up, he was momentarily blinded at her smile. A cute, full of happiness, smile. A look of glee at the care of his touches, at being the sole recipient of his attention. And he was the reason of that smile. Feeling his lips split into a proud grin, he unreservedly sank back into her pillow and pulled her into his arms. He set the phone in her lap on her bedside table, his stare having lingered for only a second longer, and plucked another chocolate out of its box. He popped it into her mouth to which she gratefully accepted only half. The other half she guided into his. 

And the rest of their night was spent like that. With the Autumn breeze waltzing in from the window ajar and chocolates in their stomachs, the first rays of dawn broke through the horizon. They painted the sky a fiery ensemble of reds and oranges, drifting further into violets and pinks the further they were from the sun. 

“I got to go,” Genji whispered into her hair. 

Angela hummed in his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist. “Oh… Before you go.”

Her voice laced with sleep tickled his ears. They sounded so gentle, almost angelic even. He took her wrist, staring at it for some time before dropping his gaze onto the lady asleep in his arms. A peculiar warmth pooled in his stomach.  _ She remembered. Even when she's sleepy.  _ With a smile and a softened gaze, he lightly cut a small line on her index finger with his fingernail, shallow enough to make her twitch but not enough to wake her up. He put the bleeding digit into his mouth and gently sucked. 

His mind exploded like a mini firework cracker at the first taste. It was so sweet, just like he remembered. Ever sweeter than the chocolates he ate. But then it came: the pain of a thousand needles lightly prickling his nerves, electrifying his every senses and a dull throb in his head. 

And this was the downgraded version of it.

But he wanted to uphold his end of the deal, and without having drunk her blood, he would have feasted on many others. 

_ And that would make her sad. And probably angry.  _ He chuckled to himself at the thought of her angered appearance akin to an angry Pomeranian yipping away, but too cute and fluffy to truly take seriously. 

Slowly and gingerly slipping out of her arms when he was satisfied, he properly laid her on the bed and pulled the blanket up to her neck. He quietly set the phone to charge and wiped the tear stains off the floor, throwing the tissue in the bin before gracefully hopping onto the window sill. With one last look at her, he couldn't help but smile even after he pulled the curtains shut and fully closed the window. 

He hurried away through the rooftops and shadows of the buildings. In his bliss, for the first time in centuries, he failed to sense the presence of a hostility lurking nearby. No, not near him. 

Angela Ziegler.

 


	6. It Will Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela's comforted by her brother as they finally enter December. Genji makes a reappearance due to some old acquaintances.

“So that’s where he’s been hiding…” A deep dark voice mused. His face was shrouded by dancing shadows and they looked alive, curling and waving menacingly like tendrils of snake guardians, but white fragments could roughly be seen through the cracks. When pieced together, a skull could be seen. The man was seated at the head of the table where a large display screen was alight in blue behind him, casting an eerie halation of blue and grey around him. Before him were seated four others.

“ _Oui_ , father. I caught sight of him in Zurich following the intel Shadow gave,” a woman further down the table reported. Her lavender body was cladded in a purple skin tight suit, long raven hair pulled into a high ponytail. A sniper rifle leaned against the table by her side. “He seems to be in the company of vampire hunters as well.”

“Ooh, that is fairly intriguing,” the shadowy man at the front exclaimed in amazement. “Do you know who they are, Spider?”

Spider shook her head while she removed the infrared visor around her head and handed it towards Shadow, a dark skinned woman with pink ombre tips in her brown hair, who cheekily smiled and received it excitedly. She tinkered with the buttons, making the device beep once and extracted its memory chip. “I’m guessing my enhancement on your visor worked well then?” Shadow giggled.

“ _Oui_ , it did.”

Plugging the memory chip into her laptop, the blue screen behind the man called Father flickered with vivid colours. With Shadow’s newly installed system in Spider’s visor, not only did it enhance its infrared abilities, it also allowed for recordings, such as this.

 _“Where the fuck did they come from!?”_ sounded a distant curse from the man wearing a cowboy hat. Spider had been miles away but the in-built microphone had managed to pick up the sound, although the output was muffled and a little soft. The crowd watched as he fired off rapid shots with his gun, effortlessly killing three newborns. _“Sis!”_

The video panned across the area, zooming in as it did. Staring at the incoming group of newborns, there was a man, no, a _vampire_ , crouched down with a lady in his arms. Green hair and bright red eyes. Holding a blonde with vivid blue eyes; beautiful, _and_ strong. The duo was eye catching, to say the least. They murdered and fended off the large wave of newborns in harmony, easily and effortlessly with not even so much as a scratch on them. Their teamwork wasn’t the best, but it was good enough that it caught the attention of those around the table.

Father hummed thoughtfully, his dark brown eyes gleamed a sharp red at the sight of the green haired vampire protecting the blonde vampire hunter. He leaned back in a relaxed stance, watching calmly up until Genji threw the blonde vampire hunter at the cowboy vampire hunter when the situation grew dire. His back subconsciously straightened. Eyes narrowed into slits. Thick tanned fingers that had been tapping the table rhythmically paused. Tick. Tock. In a surge of anger, the fingers penetrated the steel table like swords stabbing bare flesh.

_No. NO. THAT’S NOT THE DRAGON I KNOW — Genji! He!_

Threatening growls burst from his throat as the same fingers curled, effortlessly slicing the steel like butter, and the shadows around him densened. The flashback of when Genji threw the vampire hunter away replayed in his mind, but it was the smile, the smile _and the wave!_

As though that wasn’t enough, the video skipped (as though Shadow was afraid watching the rest would have angered Father more) and a different scene played. Shadow mentally let out a relieved sigh, only to freeze with a bitter smile.

In the night, through the half-drawn curtain, the whole team watched as the man they knew as the Dragon, the rebel and the one they’ve been hunting for, _feed_ chocolates and - _cuddle with a vampire hunter._

“Rarrghh!” He slammed a heavy fist down, the force enough to rattle the machines and tremble the earth, and uncaring of the huge dent on the already worn out table. “Shadow!” He bellowed furiously. “Find out who they are! I want that huntress _dead_!”

“Sí, Father!”

And that’s when his eyes caught sight of the grimace in Dragon’s expression after drinking just the slightest of the vampire hunter’s blood. His hands clutched at his head while his body hunched over. The blood. Her blood. Hurt him.

Angels. She was a goddamn Angel.

_Or at the very least, a descendent!_

The four others seated before the snarling Father scooted away fearfully when the shadows surrounding him started lashing out wildly. They darkened and hissed, and they could literally see the fury rolling off him in waves.

Father groaned as old scars of 25 years ago began to throb. The scars on every inch of his skin burned as though they were drenched in a vat of holy water. Clawed hands gripped his head, brown eyes glowed a dangerous red, like a pair of rubies in the shadows.

“Angels…” he snarled. “ _Angels…!_ ”

The face of another blond, this time a man, resurfaced in his mind. He was handsome, a kind of pretty boy face any sane females would swoon for, with an air of charisma, a strong need for justice, he was like the holy knight that came to banish the darkness. The humans’ holy protector: Angels. The blond stared down at him from where he stood, a look of melancholy in those clear blue eyes.

A deep, guttural roar shook the cavern walls of the office in Gibraltar. Various knick-knacks in the room rattled and fell, dust and slight debris cracked and fell like powdery snow. The screen displaying the recording shook and fell off its stand, holding onto its life by a screw of a corner.

“Shadow! Talon! Change of plans,” he snarled at the screen. “I want that woman here now!”

The young woman with pink ombre hair, as well as an older one with carrot coloured hair and a pair of red, blue eyes, stood up solemnly.

“Yes/Sí, Father!”

 

———

 

Soft footsteps quietly stopped in front of a door, long pajama pants hanging till his ankles. He rapped the door gently with his knuckles, whispering in his usual Texas drawl, “Darl’?”

Receiving a lack of response, his face frowned with worry. Jesse hadn’t received a reply from her last night and despite being recovered from his injuries, it was inappropriate for him to find her at night. Even if they were siblings by title, because ultimately, they were still unrelated by blood.

He called out to her one more time and when he received nothing again, he looked down at the electronic lock and prayed, prayed she hadn’t deadbolt it. There were two ways to unlock it: One method was activating the number pad where numbers and symbols in a three by four format would appear on the black plate, and then key in the password; The second method: Fingerprints. Jesse lifted his index finger and pushed open the scanner cover on the top right with his nail, before pressing and sliding the pad of his finger down the slim glass scanner hidden beneath. He thanked the heavens when it beeped in verification and the metal lock whirled open. He pushed the door open, sighing in utter relief at his sister sleeping so soundly on the bed. He then crouched beside the bed, peering at her face; a little puffy around the eyes, lips were chapped, cheeks a little dry, but her expression was peaceful.

 _Maybe she cried it all off._ He thought as he quietly seated himself against the bed’s side frame. With a knee propped up and his elbow resting on it, he looked around the room, noting that nothing was out of place. _Maybe she stress-ate all those chocolates._ He chuckled lightly.

There was some rustling and a groan behind him. “Good morning, darl’.”

“Mmm… What time is it?” Angela mumbled sleepily under her breath.

“Eight past two in the afternoon.”

“...nghh… Jesse?” Waking up slightly, she squinted in the dim lighting, vision blurry as she tried making out the face of the person in front of her. Her head throbbed a little at having been woken up.

“That’s my name,” he joked.

She couldn’t see him clearly but she definitely recognised that accent anywhere. Smilingly, she fully rolled over onto her side, pulling the blanket along as she did, and poked, what she hoped was, his cheek. Sure enough, the short hairs of his beard pricked the pad of her finger, causing her to giggle. “Ain’t shaving?” she whispered lightly, aware of her morning breath and the grime that crusted upon her tongue.

“Nope,” he popped the ‘pop’. “I look manlier like this.”

“Aww… but you have such a pretty face without it.”

He playfully growled at her. “And I look like a baby because of it.”

Giggling, she retorted, “No, you look cute.”

“What man wants to be cute!”

Instead of debating, she scrunched her nose at him and stuck her tongue out in response. A warm hand patted her head. “Want a hug?”

“You saw my message?” she quirked a brow.

“What message?”

“Oh… nothing.”

“What message!”

Angela giggled and held out her arms. “Huuuug.”

With a grumble, Jesse stood up and slid his arms under the armpits of her raised arms, lifting her up with a slight grunt and proceeded to give her the biggest bearhug she could imagine. Her heart welled up with warmth, yet at the same time, she was chokingly doleful.

“You’re alright, darl’. You’re alright.” He murmured sweet consolations next to her ear, ignoring the wet patch that had begun to seep into his clothes. “It makes you, you. Don’t change who you are. You’re a kind, amazing person. Empathetic and sweet. And you’re strong too. You kick ass and can definitely kick mine.” Her tears suddenly fell harder. Why was it so hard? She had thought her tears were all dried up last night, but clearly she was wrong. Why? Why was she still crying? Because she was a girl? Was it because of that, that she always had to stop being sensitive? Why was being sensitive so wrong? Just… why couldn’t guys be more sensitive!

“Darl’... Sis? Ange. Angela! Listen to me,” Jesse firmly exclaimed, finally getting her attention. His heart tightened at the glistening tears cascading down stubbornly. Her face was resolute, lips pursed into a thin line, and she stared up at him with her large blue eyes, never blinking. The tears just kept falling no matter how much she tried holding them in; he could tell. He could see. Slumping, he grimaced. Then, stroking her hair, he softened his tone and muttered, “Cry. Cry it all out. Let it all out. I’ll listen. But your tears are precious pearls. Don’t waste them.” He paused. “In the end, I believe you’ll know what to do.”

She dropped her head and muffled her heart-wrenching wail in his shoulder, all the ache in her heart gripping at her chest bursting out from a broken dam, and for once in a long time, she wished, so desperately wished, her mother was here. A mother that would know her child, would know what to say in times like this, would understand and empathise. Would hug her and coax her, berate her husband for being too harsh, and eat ice cream with her all night long, while hopefully banishing him to the couch. But when she compared Jesse’s words to words her father might have said in situations for advice, she liked to think that her mother would have said the same thing.

Crying with Genji was different with Jesse. Last night had been a short reprieve, a mini getaway from reality — a bubble that only they could enter. He didn’t know her well. Didn’t know the extent of her pain, her sorrows, but despite that, he cheered her up. Made her happy. Never questioned it and accepted her tears.

With Jesse though, he knew her — every little bits and pieces of her heart, and she never heard the end of it. He was constantly berating her about it, but it was because it was him, that he understood. And the reason why she could fully let go.

“W-What — “ she wheezed, hiccupping with every heartbeat, “did I d-do wrong? Wh-Why is ev-everyone telling me t-to,” she sharply inhaled, “s-stop being sensitive!”

“Shh… relax. Breathe, darl’. Breathe. In… out. In… and out.”

Angela subconsciously followed his rhythm, breathing in so deeply until her lungs fully expanded, and choking as they did. He patted her back till her coughs calmed, and still continued patting her back lightly. “Who is this everyone? I’ll beat them up!”

She sniffled, harshly rubbing her eyes on the sleeves of his shoulder and instantly replied, “Y-You! D-Daddy too! All t-the other, h-hunters!” She wheezed sharply, the breath catching in her throat, but when she exhaled all the air out of her, she felt an odd sense of calm. With little sobs, she continued in a whisper, “It’s so hard being a female vampire hunter… we can’t do this, can’t do that. Be like this, be like that.” _Why do you think we don’t have much female vampire hunters?_ “What’s wrong with you guys…”

Jesse stiffened at the mention of him. Had he? He searched through his memories as the sobs began to die down and her shoulders stopped trembling. He tried, and tried, but he couldn’t place a finger on any of the times he ever told her that.

“Y-You wanted to call me stupid…”

His back straightened. His muscles tensed.

“You always, _always,_ said that I am too kind. Too kind, always so forgiving.” Angela shut her eyes and tiredly rested her forehead against his shoulder bone. Her words rolled like a whispering wind, muttered barely audible from her dry lips to which she drew her tongue over. “You’ve uttered them under your breath, sweetheart.” She tried to keep her tone light, tightening her grip around his waist. “I heard you time and time again, especially when _he_ comes to visit. You always tell me to s-stop being kind. That they’re m-monsters…”

He pulled away and held her at arm's length. “They are! They’re not humans! I can’t even understand why you’re going to such lengths! Making a deal with a _monster_ . You _are_ too kind. It _is_ stupid.”

His last words came out as a sneer, the words biting and sharp. Feeling her hold around him slacken, he worriedly looked down, yet, realising his gaze, Angela squeezed her eyes shut and hung her head lower.

_No. No. Stop. Stop…! I have to stop crying! Please! Please… sto…p…_

Her body started shuddering like a broken toy with every sniffle she tried to hold back. She tensed the muscles around her eyes, squeezing them tighter and tighter, but the water stubbornly pooling behind her eyelids rocked like small waves.

Jesse’s mouth gaped open, a small panic growing inside. “...sis?” He moved his hands to lift her head but she sharply turned it away, the stubborn trickle of a few salty beads crawling out of the corner of her eyes.

“So what if I’m stupid? So what? So what if I’m too kind!” Her head whirled around to glare at him through teary eyes. “I’m not a sharpshooter like you! I’m not strong like grandpa! Or smart like daddy! I’m just me! What can I do? I'm sensitive! So!? I feel the pain they feel. I feel sad when they’re angry and misunderstood! They’re still humans! They weren’t _born_ as vampires. They were turned into one! And even if they were, they still act like us! Breathe, eat, and drink! Aren’t they alive too?” Her voice rose by several tones with each sentence, the tension and fury lacing them like an armor protecting her body. “How are they monsters!”

He instantly rebutted in a restrained tone, “But you always get hurt in the end! You’re always thinking of others. When are you gonna start thinking of yourself? Even that - that, deal! How can you make a deal with the monster!”

“ _He_ is not a monster! Stop calling him one! He can be as human as we can be! What’s wrong with making a deal with him? Sacrificing a little of my blood is saving so much more!” She screeched and then heaved a few heavy breaths. She calmed her pounding heart and steadied her breathing before she asked in a softer tone, “Because how else can I help? I’m not you. Not grandpa. Not daddy.” Her voice then dropped several octaves. “Aren’t we supposed to protect humans? But what am I, as a person of Angelic descent, supposed to do to stop the vampires? Because what if the vampires are humane? Doesn’t that make them… human?”

“What’s so wrong about protecting him? I panicked and said something wrong but I didn’t mean anything bad! How is it suddenly my fault. He laughs and smiles, just like we do! He jokes and flirts around, just like we do! He may not bleed like we do but he still gets hurt. He understands pain, and sorrow! And he tried to comfort me! He — he… he put my own needs above his. And if that doesn’t show that he’s still human, then I don’t know what will.”

Jesse had been quiet throughout her entire spiel, watching her pensively. Not once he uttered a word, not even a meep. He turned towards the chocolates by her bedside table. “The chocolates…?”

Her gaze immediately softened at the memory. Looking at the empty box, she opened her mouth with the intention to explain when a thought flashed across her mind. Bending over, she picked up her phone and unlocked it. The screen of her chat with Jesse popped up.

He caught the unsent words in her textbox and melancholy filled him. _She needed me. But I didn’t…_

Her fingers danced lightly across the touchscreen keyboard and pushing down his sadness, he curiously leaned forward and read the words upside down as she was still seated across him.

[He came last night, like you guessed. Came to collect the blood. But grandpa and daddy sensed his presence, and came to check. That’s when I panicked and had that fight with daddy… But before that, he suddenly disappeared. After I messaged you, he suddenly reappeared.]

Jesse clenched his fists and his shoulders tensed.

[But he didn’t bite and drink my blood… instead, he actually comforted me. Hugged me and ate chocolates with me.]

She chuckled sadly.

[And that’s all. I fell asleep after that but I don’t remember being bitten]

Jesse frowned. He grabbed her right arm, flipped it over palm up and promptly pulled the long sleeve back. He scrutinised and carefully counted the scars. Calloused fingers gently slid over the soft skin of her forearm and to the wrist, feeling the small raised bumps of healing scars.

“...there really aren’t any new ones.”

“Mhmm.”

He opened up her palm with a thumb, flipping the hand around. “When did you cut your finger?”

“Huh? I didn’t.”

The cut was no more than a centimeter on the fingertip and it looked fresh with newly formed scabs.

Jesse bitterly smiled, but inwardly, he felt grateful. “He did collect his debt after all.”

“Mhmm…” Angela stared fixedly on her finger. “I guess he did.”

Silence shrouded them and Angela’s sigh was the first to break it. Dropping the phone by her lap, she leaned forward and buried her chest into Jesse’s chest while wrapping her arms around him. She mumbled something under her breath.

“Hmm? Couldn’t quite hear you, darl’.”

She pouted, even though he couldn’t see it, and again gathered her courage. One final push on the words hiding in her throat and she repeated a little louder, “I’m sorry.”

“S’alright.” He hugged her back with a chuckle, purposefully tickling her cheek with his beard and eliciting cheerful giggles.

“Aren’t you gonna tell me something like you’re sorry too?”

“Nope,” he popped the ‘p’ again.

“Why?” She gave him a flat look.

“You already know that I am.”

“Sure — ahh!”

Jesse bent down and swept her up by the hips, bringing her up into the air and threw her over his shoulder while fluidly unfolding his legs and climbed off the bed.

“Jesse! Hahaha, what are you doing!”

“Bringing you down for lunch. Enough of moping around.”

“I can walk you know.”

“But I wanted to use you as a dumbbell,” he cheekily grinned.

She rolled her eyes. “You just wanna show off how strong you are.”

He proudly turned his nose up into the air as he padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Of course. Look at these babies.” He flexed his biceps with a lopsided grin, to which she simply rolled her eyes and ignored him.

She wouldn’t let him know, but she appreciate the lack of efforts needed on her part to get to food. Fatigue was already beginning to settle into her bones. Her throat was extremely dry and her lips were so chapped that she desperately wanted to french kiss a lip balm.

“Where’s grandpa and daddy?”

“You sound like a toad. Here,” Jesse set her down onto the kitchen floor and she poutily accepted the glass of water. “The old man and your dad left about an hour ago to the Hunter’s Union to report the possible sightings of vampires in the area and to maintain a higher vigilance.”

Angela lightly smacked her lips together. The water was cool and refreshing, and she proceeded to drown her throat with more of it. Jesse waited until she was done before grabbing the glass and setting it in the sink.

“What’d you want for lunch, darl’?”

“Honestly? A good old burger.”

“Delivery?”

“Sounds good.”

…

When the food came, the siblings were already snuggled comfortably on the living room couch, scenes of a Christmas movie playing on the television.

That’s right. Christmas. Today marked the last day in November and winter would soon make its first entrance for the year tomorrow.

“Do you think it’ll snow tomorrow?” Jesse curiously asked as he munched on his second burger.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. But I don’t think so? It’s only going to be the first day of Christmas. It doesn’t normally snow so early in Zurich,” Angela ate her fries, her burger having long since been swimming in her tummy.

“Mmm, it’d be funny if it snows though.”

“Uh huh.”

The evening soon came and went, and the Ziegler men returned to a pair of sleeping siblings on the couch. Jesse was sprawled out with his mouth hanging open, a slight snore coming out. His arm hung off the couch while the other was on his chest. His long brown locks were messy, strewn across his eyes. Angela on the other hand slept on the other end of the three-seater couch. Her legs laid on top of his while she snuggled into the pillows with her hair tied into a high, messy bun. The thick woolly blankets barely even covered them as it slipped down their bodies. Fast food wrappings and boxes were neatly stacked on top of the coffee table in the center, between the couch and the muted television.

“I’ll go make us dinner,” Wendell said after a look at them. There was an indescribable light in his eyes.

“Alright,” Wendell replied and adjusted the blankets before entering the kitchen. “Reckon we may have been a bit too paranoid?”

At the Hunter’s Union, when they tried to raise the alert level in the area, they could see that no one really took them seriously. They respected the two, but to them, logically, why should they have to be afraid? There literally has been no vampires in the area for over a decade.

“It’s better safe than sorry, father.” Wendell was expertly cutting some onions as he discussed the issue with his father. “Like you said, our Angelic blood never lie.”

“But there wasn’t a vampire in her room.”

“He could have lingered outside. Nearby for all we know. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

“And I can’t help but feel… something just isn’t right. Arghh.”

“Alert’s already been raised. _If_ anything happens, we’ll be ready.”

“It won’t start till tomorrow comes though…”

Dinner was ready not long after, and the children were woken up. Unlike their usual dinners, there was an uncomfortable silence hanging above them. Angela avoided both her grandfather’s and father’s gazes, while Jesse focused solely on the food.

And that was how the night ended. Suffocatingly uncomfortable.

 

———

 

“Need a break, Shadow?” Talon asked the younger woman beside her.

Shadow looked up at the gingerhead with a huff. “No. We can rest when we reach.”

“It’s just less than an hour away.” Talon stared into the forest. The pair had been running at top speed from Gibraltar for roughly nine hours, and soon, they will reach their target.  “We can rest for five then continue again.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Shadow groaned and dropped onto the ground. “How do you guys do this? It’s so much better with the computers and technology. All the hacking I can do. All the destruction!” She threw her arms up into the air.

“Started any wars lately?”

Shadow perked up. “I’ll have to check my schedule.”

Talon chuckled lightly. “Let me know, so I can join in the fun.”

They rested in silence for a while more before dashing off towards the Ziegler’s house like a blur in the wind. It was pitch black in the night as they ran deep through the forests, ducking branches and jumping over roots and fallen logs. Slowly the trees thinned out and a forest path appeared. It wasn’t long till tall white buildings and tarred roads came into view, and they soon smelled the scent of freshwater. Christmas decorations were dead in the quiet of night as the city entered the first day of December, but there were still a few individuals awake and about.

Malicious grins curved upon vampire Father’s children at the sight.

…

“The house is right up ahead. Do you need to set up?”

The pair stood atop the roof of a few houses away as the wind dropped in temperature. Looking up, they saw the slow falling of snowflakes, like the glittering of white stars, like the Heavens were weeping.

“Since when I do have to?” Shadow smirked as she leapt off the ground and landed on the high silver gates, before leaping up again. With a nimble forward flip, she landed on their target’s rooftop and planted a purple coloured device on the terracotta tiles. It was small, just a little smaller than the size of her palms and hexagonal shaped. With the push of the button on its surface, a violet light pulsed and rapidly expanded outward into a sphere of a 15-meter radius, easily encompassing the house and its neighbours.

“Let’s get started.”

 

———

 

The warning tingles electrifying her nerves woke her up. Her eyes shot open, revealing their blue hues as the pupils dilated in the dark. Turning on her waist, she pressed the power button on her phone.

04:53.

1 December 20XX.

Angela’s face grew serious when she noticed the network unavailability at the top. _That’s not normal_. A soft thud outside the house caught her attention and she immediately lunged for her Angelic artifacts; in her left held the staff and in her right was the blaster.

Thump. Thump.

The footsteps echoed loudly in the quiet night. One second it came on her left, and the next from the right.

Thump. Thump.

The sounds came louder. This time it was directly on her ceiling.

Unlocking the safety on her blaster, Angela resisted the terrified shivers running down her spine when maniacal cackles whispered into her ear.

“Ooh, the kitty has claaaaws.”

Angela jumped at the _sheer_ proximity of the voice and instantly whirled around with her gun raised, but the figure easily stepped back to avoid the swipe at her head with the same cackle echoing through the room. Angela sucked in a breath, the utter terror of the silhouette breathing down her neck still pumping in her veins, when the warning tingles of her blood rushed faster and faster.

A pair of red eyes blinking in the dark.

Dim lighting of the hallway flooded into her room, the plane disturbed by the shadow of a figure standing by the doorway. Following the shadow, Angela looked up only to see a second pair of the same red eyes grinning at her.

“Hello, Dr. Angela Ziegler,” the person at the door called.

As courteous as it looked, the vampire hunter clearly heard the mockery in the voice. “Who are you?” She glanced warily at her door, confused as to why the electronic lock didn’t work. There was no sound or indicator of an entry into her room, and it was as if the pair of vampires had simply waltz into her room — _like it was theirs._

“Ohh, you don’t have to know who we are,” the vampire behind her sang, the voice getting louder with each word.

Angela whirled around to watch the vampire flit around her room, looking at every nook and cranny with curiousity, when she sensed a presence by her neck. With her arm raised, she pivoted to the left on her heel and slammed her elbow into the other vampire, only to be blocked by a palm. Up close, she could see hints of orange coloured hair in the darkness.

“No use resisting. Come with us.”

“No,” Angela seethed, twisting her wrist to hit the orange haired vampire over the head who merely leaned back, but she followed up by aiming her blaster from below the arm and shot!

Bright yellow coloured bullets exploded from the barrel, and Angela felt the blood in her rushing faster, and faster, fueling her adrenaline hard.

“Urgh…” The orange haired vampire groaned as she stumbled back from the close impact, but not before shooting out a spray of purple beam from her left hand towards Angela. A few holes littered her clothes and there was a distinct smell of burnt skin in the air. “Huh?”

“What’s wrong?” floated the voice of the second, curious vampire who was looking at Angela’s laptop.

“I can’t heal.”

Angela gripped her throbbing head, feeling the adrenaline suddenly die and a weakness in her body. Her vision became blurry and she gripped the edge of her bed when she stumbled. There were muffled voices in her head and sounds of things crashing in the distance.

Then a gust of wind and a cold hand gripped her arm. “We gotta go then, Talon. Can you move?”

“Kinda.”

Rushing footsteps slapped against the floorboards. “Sis!!”

“Let’s go!”

_Jesse…_

The distinctive accent of her brother cleared her head ever so slightly and she instinctively shot her gun at her apprehender who groaned and released her hold. Falling in a heap onto the ground, Angela tried to crawl back up onto her feet while there came an orange glow from the Talon’s right hand that she shot at her Shadow, only to be met with confusion.

“I’m not healing…”

From the proximity of the voices, Angela swung her staff a few inches above the floor with all the strength her dizzy state could muster towards the nearest voice. The metal pole hit something solid as her target let out a pained cry.

“You…!”

Bang! Bang!

Jesse McCree slid to a stop by the doorway and instantly let out two gunshots at the foreign silhouettes in the room. They were easy to distinguish: Their red eyes glared at him.

Having been weakened by the Caduceus Blaster, the two silver bullets lodged themselves ruthlessly in their skins with little to no resistance. The Angelic bullets powered by the blood pervaded into the veins of the vampires, leaving a small scorching flame path in its wake. The silver bullets brought upon a stinging pain.

But they were by no means weak.

Shadow gritted her teeth as she pulled out her fully-automatic machine pistol and fired at Jesse. He promptly ducked into the hallway. Leaning against the wall, he peeked out to see into the room when bullets flew in his direction, chipping off pieces of the plaster wall. He growled when they pricked his face. In that split second, he saw a purple beam surrounding his sister who was groaning. He tried to find an opening to reenter the room multiple times, but each time, Shadow would stop him and he’d have to take cover behind the door lest he be barraged by a multitude of bullets.

"Argh!"

_Sis!!_

Steeling his resolve, he rolled into the doorway and emptied his rounds at Talon who was attacking Angela with the same purple beam, before leaping towards Shadow. His body recoiled with each bullet embedding itself into it but he pushed on, ducking when she got within arm’s length. Shadow slammed her gun down onto his head but Jesse retaliated by parrying it with Peacekeeper and landing a solid uppercut onto her jaw, sending her flying back.

His bleeding chest heaved with heavy pants, the excruciating pain of the tens of bullet wounds striking him like heavy hammers. _No, I'm not done. Not yet. Sis!!_

Jesse roared in pain when something hard struck him from behind, his vision going black almost immediately. With shaky hands, he managed only to reload two bullets as the rest tinkered on the ground lifelessly. He craned his head back, coming face to face with Talon’s red eyes that were staring at his left metal arm.

But his vision was darkening with black spots and the energy was being sapped from him. “Go to Hell…”

With one final expansion of energy, he fired the two bullets at Talon just before letting the darkness consume him.

“Angie!!” A pair of heavy footsteps reached the open doorway and then came gasps. “Jesse!!”

Talon sneered at the two older men, unceasing in her efforts to leech off the energy of the siblings before switching to an orange beam that enveloped Shadow.

Enraged, Altherr lunged towards Talon with a guttural roar. The silver clawed gloves covering his hands were stained red from the previous fight with the newborns and he slashed at the vampire. Talon knew she couldn't contend with the old man's strength, but their objective was so close to be achieved and she knew if she moved, he’d lunge for his granddaughter and take her away. Crossing her arms above her head, she braced herself for the impact.

Like Mt. Tai smashing down upon her limbs, Talon felt the bones of her arms creak and break, and her feet caved into the floor, but her left hand quickly glowed purple.

“Don't let that beam touch you!!” A clear, crisp voice shouted urgently.

Instinctively, Altherr jumped backwards and pulled his son away back into the hallway as the beam missed them narrowly by a few inches.

“Tsk, tsk. Why if it isn't Dragon?” Talon scowled.

“I'm not Dragon.” On the windowsill perched a man with snow in his bright green hair. He sneered at his old acquaintance. Altherr would have appreciated the man's help if not for the red eyes that he had. “Leave.”

“Father wants her. We’re not leaving without her.” Shadow spoke up tiredly. Her body ached but with Talon’s healing, it was bearable.

The deep guttural growl incited a shiver of fear even in the vampires. His red eyes darkened and he unleashed a menacing aura. “No.” His voice dropped a few octaves, turning icy cold at the thought of _her_ being taken away. “You can tell ‘Father’ to go fuck himself. She’s _mine._ ”

Altherr and Wendell watched cautiously from the doorway, the alarm and panic rising with every second. “Why can’t we connect to the network! We can’t call for help!” Wendell exclaimed worriedly under his breath.

Altherr’s expression blackened. Just what was happening? His granddaughter was writhing on the floor and his step-grandson was riddled with bullets that he could see a pool of blood forming below the body. Three vampires in the room were vying for his only granddaughter.

His only granddaughter!

“I’m not losing anyone else!” he bellowed agonisingly.

He already lost his daughter-in-law! There’s no way he’s losing Angela too!

As though sensing his grief, the snow outside fell harder. It tinged the atmosphere with sadness and helplessness, covering the whole city of Zurich in a white, cold blanket of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it was a little confusing:
> 
> Spider: Widowmaker  
> Shadow: Sombra  
> Talon: Moira  
> Father: Gabriel Reyes


	7. Weakness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's happening to Jesse? Genji kicks ass and Angela's crying.  
> Our fav old couple makes an appearance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst. It's a full blown angst. Warning ya beforehand. 
> 
> There was supposed to be fluff but a friend of mine (I'm looking at you freakypseudwriter) went on an angst fest and I had to join in. So... yes. 
> 
> Enjoy :3

Angela knew she was staring at her room, from the carpet to the wooden furnishings, but everything in her vision was blurry, rocking back and forth in her mind like the slow waves at sea. She groaned at the loud piercing sounds surrounding her, sharp enough that she couldn't get off the ground. Weak, that's all she felt. No energy; No will. 

Then her fingertips twitched at the feeling of her carpet turning warm and wet. That's when her mind oriented itself at the scent.

Blood. Lots of blood. 

_ Oh God. Jesse.  _

Blurry scenes of her brother getting battered with hundreds of bullets replayed in her head. The cracking of the shots clapping like vicious thunder in her ears. 

_ Fuck, fuck! No!  _

Cold and warmth alternated on her hands as she haphazardly padded the area around her. 

_ Where is it? Where is it! _

At the touch of cold metal, she silently rejoiced in her heart when she caressed the long pole. 

_ Please don't let him die. Please.  _

She scrunched her face tight, forcing her mind to still and focus, and at a snail’s pace, it slowly cleared. Urging her blood, she fumbled until she found the mechanism, and pressed. 

The yellow beam in the darkness caught their attention. Everyone, from Father's children to the Angels’ descendants, stopped mid-fighting while they stared at the light floating towards the man on the ground. He had long stopped twitching, stopped moving, and his body even started getting cold. 

_ Please, Jesse. Don’t do this! _

Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blood that soaked the carpet beneath her face. She kept remembering back to the moment of six years ago, the scene mixing and blurring with the scene she just saw. The warm blood on her face. Like the blood under her right now. The sight of glinting fangs sunken deep into Jesse’s neck. The bullets hitting his body. The vampire’s mockery in those eyes. The resolution in his russet ones.

 

———

 

_ “You’re such a shit shooter.” _

_ “Shut up.” _

_ “Hmph. I tell stepdad all the time that you’re no angel, but he will never believe me.” _

_ “Of course. Who do you think is more convincing? The sweet, gentle little princess or a brash, hormone-raging teenage boy?” _

_ Jesse rolled his eyes. “Clearly me. I’m the better looking one.” _

_ ……  _

… 

 

“Sis!!”

His screams rang loud and clear in her ears, even though she stared at his motionless body. 

_ No! NO! _

_ JESSE! _

_ WAKE UP! _

Altherr and Wendell watched anxiously from their different spots when the healing beam enveloped their stepson. Seeing the vampire called Talon trying to stop Angela, the old man moved to intercept. 

“Your fight is with me,” Altherr scowled.

“Move!”

“Over my dead body.”

Wendell stuck to the walls as he crept past the fights, ducking as low as possible when the male vampire resumed his fight with Shadow too. Eternity passed before he made it to his stepson and a warmness choked him while his hands started working. 

 

——— 

 

_ Sounds of a gunfight thundered loudly, frightening most of the passersby on the main road.  _

_ “It's Deadlock again.” _

_ “We better leave.” _

_ “Go, go.” _

_ Whispers filled his ears. It had been Wendell’s last day in America, the last guest lecture he had to give to a lesser known university, when Deadlock started moving. Contrary to his instincts to run, he moved with his mind, and what filled his eyes was blood. Everywhere. Corpses littered the lawn and the house.  _

_ His instincts as a doctor brought him checking on every person, for their heartbeats and to the extent of their injuries. He didn’t care much for what happened. All he knew: People were injured and dying.  _

_ “Uurgh…” _

_ A weak voice caught his attention after he sighed at yet another lifeless body. Rushing towards the groan, Wendell dropped to his knees before a young boy. Long messy brown hair matted to a childlike face that was covered in bruises of purple and blue. The right side of his waist was soaked red. With a new pair of gloves, they gradually drowned in the same redness as he examined the body. Lifting his shirt, Wendell checked the bullet wound. A through and through. At least easier to patch up. Another groan escaped the young boy’s lips who couldn’t have been more than sixteen. He looked like he was fourteen or fifteen years old.  _

_ That young and in a gang? _

_ Wendell frowned. _

_ “W-Who are you!?” The boy shouted. “Let me go, old man!” _

_ With a small snarl, Wendell gently wrestled with the boy’s arms and locked the flailing limbs down with his body before finishing the bandage around the midriff. He then promptly stood up. _

_ “H-Hey! Who are you?” Aren’t you the least bit curious, old man? _

_ “Hey, old man! Don't ignore me!” _

_ Wendell ignored him and continued checking on the others. When he did all he could, to the point police officers arrived, he oddly found the same young boy struggling on his feet, scowling at the men that tried to help him. So he walked over with the usual grace he carried.  _

_ “Is there a problem here, officer?” _

_ “The kid doesn’t want to cooperate with us.” _

_ Wendell side-eyed the boy with the same smile. “You can take his statement here.” _

_ “But he’s injured, sir.” _

_ “I’m a doctor.” Flash of his license. “I’ve already patched him up. His injury wasn’t serious. He’s fit for a statement now.” _

_ Wendell vaguely remembered the events after he left. Somehow, after that incident, he bumped into the boy again later in the evening.  _

_ “Old man! Why are you here?” _

_ He couldn’t remember why, but there was a dinner with the boy he now knew as Jesse McCree. An orphan.  _

_ “Again? Old man, are you stalking me?” _

_ Then he saw him again before his flight back to Switzerland. “I’m sure you’re the one stalking me.” _

_ “Pfft, as if. Why would I? It’s a twisted fate. You’re the last person I wanted to see!” _

_ Fate?  He supposed so. _

_ …… _

_ …  _

 

_ I did NOT bring you back so you can die like this!! _

Wendell worked to remove the bullets that were being squeezed out of his body as the healing beam continued working its magic. A glance at his fallen daughter. He gulped the lump in his throat. That stubbornness in her eyes. That willfulness. 

_ Clara _ .

Angela felt like shit, utterly shit. Her body twitched but her mind was so heavy that she couldn’t do anything but focus on healing her brother. Who. Just. Wouldn't. Wake. Up!

“ _ JESSE! _ ”

Even when the hundreds of bullet holes closed, even when the bullets were extracted, the young man didn’t wake up. There was no movement, nothing. Her mind flew into a flurry of panic and despair.

“No, no! Jesse! Wake up!!”

Struggling onto her arms and knees, she persisted with the healing and crawled towards him. She wobbled and fell when a body crashed onto the space above her head, but she kept going, all the while repeatedly crying his name. 

“Jesse — Jesse!” She choked on her tears. “Oh, God. Please don’t. Not him. No.” 

Wendell sat to the side, dumbfounded. A blank stare. His hands were stained red, just like the day six years ago when he found the boy. But this time, the boy wasn’t groaning. He wasn’t screaming at him. Wasn’t calling him an old man. 

But Jesse clearly had a pulse a moment ago.

_ I FELT HIS HEART BEAT! HE MUST BE ALIVE! _

Like a flipped switch, Wendell hovered over the cowboy with glistening eyes. “Jesse? Wake up! You’re only joking, right?” The young man did love to joke around, what with his carefree personality. Always a sunshine, and such a charmer. But he didn’t respond. No crack of a joke or a twitch of a grin. The tears finally fell, the teardrops streaking Wendell’s face and breaking upon Jesse’s cheek. It was only six years, but he was his son in those six years! He watched the boy grow facial hair. He listened to the cracking of his voice. He watched the scowling boy grow into a confident, handsome young man! 

“No! Jesse McCree! You are NOT ALLOWED TO DIE! WAKE UP, DAMNIT!”

Angela stared at Jesse’s face lit up with a yellow glow, her body wringing out even more tears at the sight. “D-Daddy, he will wake up right? Right?”

“H-He will! He fucking will! Fucking wake up! Jesse!”

But the two fingers he placed on Jesse’s wrist came back with nothing. He couldn’t feel a pulse. He immediately checked the pulse by the neck. Nothing. 

“No, no! NO!”

Maybe it was the panic. Maybe it was wistful hope. Even if it was a fleeing wish, he wanted it to come true. Placing an ear on his chest, Wendell prayed and prayed, let there be a heartbeat again. Tell him he wasn't dreaming

One second.

Two. 

…

Th — 

“Aaahh!” Angela’s screams tore his attention away right as there was a loud crash nearby. “Let me go!”

On the wall behind him was a small crater. Altherr slid lifelessly into a heap on the floor. Blood trickled down the corners of his lips. Cuts and slashes marred his body. His right arm was dangling in an awkward angle. Broken. 

“We’re leaving. Now,” Talon hissed as she dug her sharp nails into Angela and dragged her away. Away from her brother. Away from Jesse — 

Like she was injected with adrenaline and given a newfound strength, Angela wrenched her arm away, pulling it downwards and caused the vampire to tilt forward in surprise. “Fuck off!” As Talon’s head dipped nearer, she raised her other elbow and slammed it straight into the side of her head. “Fuck all of you!” The tears bounced off her cheeks while she cursed, but she never stopped pounding her fists into the vampire’s head. They may have been blocked, dodged, but she kept going. She fought. Fought back hard.

It was because of them Jesse wouldn’t wake up. Because of them going after her —

_ Her. _

They wanted her. For God knows what bloody reason. But they came. For her. 

And because she was too soft, too yielding in her choices,  _ too nice _ , Jesse had to pay the price. He protected her, like he always did. Always, always! And now — 

Because she associated herself with a vampire. Because of him. Because —

“Aarrgh!”

Her blood was boiling. Her heart was pounding. Talon threw her into a wall and it shook under the impact, but Angela snarled in return. Canines bared and eyes blazing. She cocked her head to the side as Talon’s fist flew past her ear, and still in her fit of fury, she punched Talon’s face with all the strength she could muster.

Talon flew across the room and landed squarely onto the opposite wall. 

“Leave me the fuck alone!” she screeched. Momentarily blinded, she dove for Talon again when bullets shredded her skin in mid-action. “Oof!” A slim body slammed into hers, tackling her to the side, and giving Talon some breathing space. “Let! Me! Go!” Angela cried. She wanted to kill them! She wanted to kill them all! Angela snarled, an almost animalistic sound in her spewing rage.  She then wanted to get back to Jesse. She wanted to check on him. Make sure he’s alright. He’s all — right. She needed to — A hard force collided with her head and her vision went black. Her conscience spun but she forced herself to stay standing, glaring at the blurry silhouette of the tanned vampire. 

 

“Haa… haaa…”

Genji shook the dizziness out of his head after Shadow gave him a massive concussion. With a groan, he held onto the window pane and slowly straightened his back. He felt weak from hunger, from not having a proper meal in weeks. 

The whole room was a mess. Furnitures were broken, blood splattered everywhere and the fight’s aftermath presented itself uglily to him.

“Aahhh! Just leave me alone!”

His head instinctively whirled towards the direction of her scream. Despair. Agony. Desperation. Both Shadow and Talon were subduing his favourite person — favourite? He smiled a bitter smile. He supposed, in a twisted sense, she was his favourite. Not knowing where or how that thought manifested itself, he watched the two vampires hold Angela down before feeling the icy winter air on his back.

_ And I suppose, they wouldn’t mind if I destroy the room a little more. _

Inhale. Exhale.

He looked at the motionless man, a tinge of regret and sadness in his crimson gaze.  _ I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. _

Genji raised both hands and held onto the cold window panes above his head. They cracked and bent under his fingers while the clouds slowly drifted by. A growl erupted from the back of his throat. His biceps tensed and he accumulated the power in his calves. The clouds looked sadly at Genji’s arched back before waving goodbye, revealing the slightest glimpse of a light from behind its shadow. As the first ray of moonlight touched his back, he leapt. Leapt as high as he could towards the tall ceiling, as far forward as he could to the other end. With his hands still on the window pane, and with a loud, screeching rip, he tore open a massive hole in that side of the room. In time for the round moon to shine upon him as he threw the scraps aside, while piles of snow and debris fell. His crimson eyes brightened into a demonic bloody colour and his fangs elongated, sharpening like a dagger. A wisp of smoke escaped his lips as he released a breath. 

From his high vantage point, he watched those beneath him haughtily. Shadow and Talon, as bruised and battered as they were, tensed at the sight of his silhouette bathing in the silver moonlight of a full moon tinged with a violet hue, and he cackled evilly, taking joy in their anxiety. There was a sudden surge of power within him, raging like a snowstorm. Cold. Dangerous. He clenched his fists and unclenched them, feeling the mere strength swim through his veins. Hunger? No. He wasn't even that hungry anymore. But he wanted to bite, bite and feed to his heart’s content. And kill. Kill all those who dared oppose him. The night breeze picked up the ends of his scarf and brought snow to drift into the room, chilling everyone to their bones. Yet, when his gaze dropped back down and saw Angela looking straight at him, his mind zoomed in and frowned at the sadness in her clear blue eyes that were reddened with tears. 

_ A-Angela…  _

The wild vampiric instinct in him calmed when he saw her lips move, but he couldn’t respond. No, rather, he didn’t. Leaping like a lion towards his prey, he blurred with extreme speed and easily dodged Talon’s purple beam.

His snarl echoed loudly in their ears as Talon attempted to track his frame with her gaze, but all she caught each time was the blur of a shadow with two beady red eyes starting at her. Enraged, she released her purple beam and shot towards every blur she saw when suddenly, his shadowed, scarred face appeared right in front of her with a mocking smirk. “You missed.”

Talon scowled and he raised a palm, easily blocking her punch.

“ _ Leave _ .”

Talon scoffed as she jumped back to dodge his retaliatory claws. “She wants you gone too.”

Genji then spun on his heel, dodging Shadow’s sneak attack and following the momentum, his leg snapped towards her midriff. Crash! The enhanced power behind his kick sent her hurtling towards the broken bookshelves that piled onto her mercilessly. She twitched but never got back up. The rush of wind behind his back caused him to duck, causing Talon’s fist to miss him by a mile, and he jumped up like a released spring, landing a solid uppercut onto her jaw. 

He loomed over Talon’s fallen body and leered down. “Who said I wasn’t?” 

“You…!” Talon sneered. “You’ve fallen so low, Dragon!”

Genji clutched the front of her shirt and lifted her up with a smirk. “So?” He breathily said in an eerily calm manner. “I can still take both of you on single-handedly.”

He mercilessly sent a right hook towards her head and knocked her out, ending her futile struggles. Dragging Talon through the snow-covered floor, he then walked over to Shadow and lifted her out of the debris by the neck. Staring down at the pair of old acquaintances, there was a forlorn look on his face. He turned to leave when Angela’s bed stood right before him. Chocolates. Cuddles.

_ Genji. _

He closed his eyes, reminiscing back to the moment she mouthed his name, and he couldn’t resist the urge to glance back over his shoulder. Seeing her, smelling her blood in the cold night, Genji found himself oddly calm. Hungry, but calm. He wanted to feed, feed on her blood and taste that sweet, sweet, sweetness. He licked his bottom lip while he salivated at the mere thought. A moan left him as he pictured sinking his fangs into her supple flesh, so soft, so fair. Tasty.

But then he smelled the salty tears. And he was brought back into reality. Angela — She… she wasn’t looking at him, no. She was leaning over the fallen hunter, crying and holding onto the wistful hope that he would wake. The healing beam still shone bright around Jesse. She wasn’t even worried about him or Father’s two children. Whether that was blind trust or plain ignorance, he couldn’t understand. But it was fine. He took care of them, so she needn’t worry anymore. Not of them —  _ or him _ .

Altherr was still stuck in the hole in the wall with Wendell looking after him.

Genji looked at the destruction around the place, a polar difference to the night before which he had spent with her, and his thoughts were reeled in. His eyes dimmed ever so slightly.

Favourite person? Food? Human? …friend?

…he wouldn’t admit it yet, but he had slowly begun seeing her in a different light. 

_ Yet I bring only sadness and destruction _ .  _ So what if I’m such a powerful vampire? I can’t even make her happy. _

With one last longing glance at Angela, and a guilty look at Jesse, he leapt up and out onto the rooftop through the hole. He smashed Shadow’s EMP device with a foot and the violet light receded.

Peering at the crying lady one more time from the edges, he then closed his eyes, burning that sight into his memory, filing it away next to the folder of her smiles and laughter. 

“Goodnight,” he whispered as the wind blew, caressing the lone stubborn tear that cascaded down, before disappearing into the snowy darkness with Father’s two unconscious vampires. He never understood why it fell. Or why it even appeared. All he could tell, was that the spot above where his heart should be, was aching.

 

Angela jerked at the whisper in the night. She looked at the place the shadow last crouched, frowning when she saw nothing —  _ no one _ — there. But she swore she heard his voice whisper a ‘goodnight’. 

Yet why did it sound so much like a ‘goodbye’? 

She shook her head.  _ I must be imagining things. _

She then looked back at Jesse, brushing away the snow that collected upon him and covered him with her blanket, making sure to also brush the debris away. She sniffled and shook his body. “Jesse, Jesse. Look. It’s snowing. Like you thought. Don’t you want to see it?” Her fingers constantly wiped away at the tears on his face. “Hey, hey. Open up your eyes and see! It’s snowing on the first day of December.”

“Daddy? Why aren’t you saying anything? Say something! Jesse, he’s alive right?” Wendell hung his head silently. “No, no, no. This can't be how the it ends! No, this isn't how the story goes! Jesse!” 

Didn’t you tell me you wanted to eliminate all the vampires? Didn’t you want to be the strongest vampire hunter? You haven’t even beaten grandpa yet! What about all my future boyfriends? Didn't you want to chase them all away? Who’s gonna tell me if he's the right or wrong one now! Then there’s still Christmas too! It’s so near! I already have your gift thought out! Don't you want it?? So, wake up! Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up! 

_ JESSE!  _

 

When dawn broke at 7.51am, the neighbours all awoke to see the ruins of the Ziegler family. The former head of the family was lying supine, resting they supposed, next to a young man they knew rather well. He was ragged and seemed to be in a deep asleep, and there didn’t seem to be any injuries visible on Jesse. But oddly, there was a yellow halation around him, and Angela held a staff they never saw before.

“Angela?” 

Angela looked up flatly. Her tears were long since dried and the fatigue had settled deep into her soul, but she never once stopped the healing beam. She didn’t dare to. Not even when her blood was slowing down and her mind was beginning to shut down. She looked at the familiar face of a vampire hunter colleague, but no name came to mind. 

The man hesitated at the blank stare and he swallowed the words he wanted to say. He hurriedly left to help his confused peers with cleaning up the place as ordered by Altherr. 

“What happened here?”

“Sir Reinhardt!”

“You’re here!”

“Where’s that Altherr? Alth — My Gods, what in the world happened to you?”

A burly man, standing tall at 2.2 meters whilst dressed in only a shirt, pants and a cloak, kneeled down next to his old friend on the ground. Snowy white hair fell forward as he hung his head to look at Altherr. He had a face full of equally white hair and a scar that ran across his left eye, from his forehead down to the cheek, and despite his fierce, muscle-heavy appearance, his actions held a sense of gentleness in them as he checked the old Ziegler for injuries.

“You aren’t injured?” Reinhardt exclaimed baffled. “Then why are you acting like a fallen soldier?”

Altherr groaned and slapped Reinhardt’s arm, though it felt more like a tissue trying to slap him with how weak it was. “Shut up. I am not acting. There were vampires. Here,” he croaked. His throat was scratchy, dry, and uttering words felt like nails were being scratched against the chalkboard.

Reinhardt’s frown deepened at the weakness in Altherr’s voice, at how breathy it was. “What happened, my friend?”

“Vampires. Angela. They tried — kidnap —” Altherr broke out into a coughing fit and Reinhardt helped pat his back until it subsided.

“We’ll talk later. You need to rest.”

Reinhardt moved to stand. “No!” Altherr suddenly grabbed onto the ends of his cloak. “Ana — You need to get Ana here.”

“But she’s in Egypt. What’s wrong?”

Altherr clenched his fists and pulled himself up to stare at Reinhardt. A despairing hope shone in his downcast eyes. “The — Valkyrie… the Valkyrie. I need it.”

“Valkyrie?”

“Jesse — he — Jesse…”

Reinhardt’s gaze hardened. He gently pulled Altherr’s hand away and turned on his heel towards the other side.

“Hey…” 

Angela stared up at the war-hardened man with the same blank gaze. Reinhardt’s gaze softened when it met hers. Wendell still remained unmoved. And Jesse? Oh, that poor boy… 

Thick beefy arms reached out to her and with no resistance at all, she allowed him to pull her body into his embrace. Warm, he felt so warm. Just like Jesse’s hugs. Reinhardt tightened his hug around her shoulders and with a muffled sob, Angela dropped the staff. He ignored the wet patch on his shirt and gently caressed her crown. 

His eyes landed on the young man. There was a solemn expression on his face. 

The healing beam receded.

 

——— 

 

A slender, wrinkled hand, calloused from the many years of sniping, paused in mid-air. There was a buzzing of the satellite phone by her side. She picked it up. 

A shawl covered half her face and hair, and she was clothed in long sleeves and long pants. Her face was weathered by the vicissitudes of life but her eyes, they still showed a gleam of youthful life in the dark orb.

Yes, that wasn’t a mistake.

Ana Amari only had one eye. 

The other had been destroyed many decades back in a mission and was now covered by an eyepatch. 

The call connected.

“Meine Maus?”

The slight annoyance she had when she was interrupted instantly distinguished at the deep German voice. A smile curved upon her hidden lips and her gaze softened. “That is me, my love. What’s the matter?”

She could imagine his grin through the call and with a grin of her own, she returned half her attention back to the wall in front of her. Weird runes covered the wall in a neat arrangement, spanning across the entire underground cavern. In the center stood a pillar as wide as three meters and as tall to the ceiling. In front of it stood a square altar of only half a meter long. A cylindrical hole that spanned the same length was carved into the altar where the image of an angel stood above it with wings stretched out. It held a staff and a blaster in each hand — the Caduceus Staff and Blaster respectively.

“The Zieglers need the Valkyrie. Something’s happened to Jesse that boy.”

“I finally found the Angelic chamber, my love. It’s gonna take me at least a week to decipher all these.”

“I’m afraid they can’t wait that long. They tell me that the boy’s dying.”

Ana paused in setting the silver device into the hole before her face distorted from disbelief to anger. It was slightly bulky to be a rod and looked more like a flattened cylinder with two golden lines painting its flat lter sides. “Who was it? Who did it?” In a spew of anger, she slammed the artifact down.

Instantly the mechanism activated as a breath of smoke hissed out from the hole and the device sunk in. The gold on its sides lit up like the morning star, and like a chemical reaction, the archaic runes lit up alongside it in a low golden splendor, and the entire chamber shook, vibrating harshly like a mini earthquake.

“Meine Maus? Are you okay? What’s happening over there!”

Ana gripped onto the stone altar with a hand whilst she held onto the satellite phone with the other. She watched with wide eye as the stone pillar shook like a dog shaking the water out of its coat, and sunk down into the ground, all the way until a flight of stairs was formed. The panicked shouts from the phone were barely audible over the quaking, but it was her hold on reality, that what she was seeing, was real and by no means, a figment of her imagination. 

“M-My love? I’m alright. Nothing wrong. I just… may have found something more than just the Angelic Chamber.” Ana’s voice quivered as she spoke. There was a surprise and delight in her gaze, the curiousity rivalling a cat strong as she took a step forward towards the darkness by her feet. What could be in there? Reinhardt sighed relieved, what was clear through the deep exhale he released and the groan that escaped as he — what she assumed — plopped back onto the bed. Despite the excitement, she never forgot,  _ couldn’t _ forget, because that boy was like a charming yet annoyingly endearing son she never had. “How long do I have?”

“A week, at most.” Reinhardt’s voice was soft, weak. Something she rarely heard from the man. “Angela somehow stabilised him in a comatose state but Wendell assumes that we only have a week at most before the body fails.”

Ana searched her pockets for her smartphone and checked on its battery, before doing the same for the camera she brought. “Give me three days here, my love. I believe there’s something down there that will be useful for us all in this battle against vampires. And then I’ll come rushing back.”

“Okay, meine Maus. Stay safe. And come back to me.”

Ana’s face softened as she smiled a gentle smile. She knew he wouldn’t be able to see it, but she’d bet, that he could hear it from her voice as he whispered a sweet goodbye into her ear, full of gentleness and love, that simply warmed her insides in the slight chilly chamber. There was no chance in hell that she wasn’t going to return. Not since she made that mistake one time. And this time, her pseudo son was waiting for her.

“Always, Wilhem. Always.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meine Maus is German for 'my mouse' :3


	8. Raging Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse's still in a coma. Genji's missing. Angela's off on her own hunting vampires and she's made quite a name for herself...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another fair warning. This will be angsty, or it was extremely for me.  
> It's been a rough past month and I've had to come to terms with the death of someone really dear to me. And it's influenced this chapter. 
> 
> So, I'm sorry the chapter has been slow, and that's it's angsty, but I hope you enjoy reading it nonetheless.

_Schlick —_

_……_

_… d_

_r_

_i_

_p_

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

                             Drip.

                             D r i p.

                             D  r  i  p.

 

A twisted scowl curved upon her beautiful features. She held onto her left arm with her right hand whose fingers still gripped onto the dagger as a thick stream of blood oozed out of the wound; a clean cut across her wrist of some inches down to her forearm. The breeze stilled as though horrified at her action. The forest trees froze and the birdsong died.

“You want my blood so much, didn’t you? Come and get it.”

An almost animalistic growl clawed at the back of her throat, a crazed fire in her vivid blue eyes.

She stood in the middle of a forest where roots grew relentlessly above ground and the grass tickled her knees. Miles away from Zurich, up by the green mountains with the afternoon winter sun still awake, Angela Ziegler waited for a few more breaths.

The blood continuously dripped and pooled into a puddle by her feet, creating a dirty, dark muddy colour as the sweet wine seeped into the soil.

“Haah…”

Angela then decisively stopped the bleeding, washed the wound with alcohol and wrapped up her arm with the bandage from her pouch before walking away from the blood pool. She unclipped the strap on her hip and brandished her weapon. Call it a play of the light, but even the Caduceus Blaster looked ominous in the shadows.

She knew, after hours of tinkering with the Caduceus Staff, that she could heal herself — although slowly — when she activated it; A very slow healing over time.

But that did nothing for her fury, her rage. Her emotions exploded from the deep caverns, erupted like an active volcano and vampires — _damn, fucking vampires._

Crazed hungry snarls echoed throughout the forest. _Idiots,_ she sneered as the sounds gradually neared until it was upon her when the sounds of whistling winds screeched like an ambushing eagle. Confusion gasped at the sudden onslaughts of arrows and as the group of vampires jumped back to avoid the trap, their feet triggered the tripwire concealed beneath the tall grass and another barrage of arrows immediately shot towards their heads, forcing the hunger-crazed vampires to dodge yet again.

“What the —”

As the vampires were about to retaliate against the traps and destroy everything within their vicinity, they couldn’t help but pause, frozen in their actions and stood as still as statues. Angela watched with a mocking sneer as they visibly gulped the lump in their throats, a trace of fear evident in their eyes.

That’s right.

Her traps? The arrows? They weren’t ordinary. Strong silver wire weaved through the air like an intricate spider web, strung from the arrow butts to the other end on the trees and ground. Mere silver wire might not be able to stop them in their tracks, but the metal shined with a pure light under the sunlight that peeked through the cracks in the leaves. The holy water shined, sleeking down the wires, but to the vampires, it looked like it was mocking them, just simple, pure, unadulterated mockery.

_Swoosh!_

A lithe shadow dashed in front of them and they instinctively scowled at the newcomer, only for greed and hunger to flash across their eyes as their gazes trained onto the bloodied bandage on her left arm. Noticing their gazes, Angela smirked and brought her arm up to her lips.

“You want this?” Her tongue licked at the blood, a mere few centimeters away from the bandage itself. Her eyes never left theirs, sneering inwardly as they brightened. Their muscles tensed, seemingly as though they would rip apart the wires regardless of the consequences. She lazily lifted up her right arm, point her blaster towards an unlucky victim.

“The hell are you —”

With her tongue still near her bloody arm and indifference in her dead blue eyes, the sounds of something popping cut him off before the male vampire’s head burned and sizzled like a candle wax melting under the flame. Angela clicked her tongue unhappily.

“I really hate the sound of this gun.”

_Pew pew. Really? That sounds like bubbles being shot from the gun instead of actual bullets!_

An uneasy silence fell like a heavy cloud. The damsel they thought was in no way in distress — definitely not an easy fodder. Was this the end for them?

Seeing their unreconciliation, Angela sneered and felt the anger surging out in heavy tides. If it weren’t for them — for _vampires —_ then _he_ wouldn’t be simply lying there, unmoving. He wouldn’t be in the state that he was currently in, lying like a damned vegetable when he was supposed to be out there — barking like a dog!

...not that she’d ever tell him that.

“To hell with this!” A burly vampire exclaimed. He brought his heavy arms down onto the wires, bracing himself for the inevitable pain and suffering that he’ll surely face.

A horrifying screech escaped his lips when his arms came in contact with the silver wire, and this was because not only did the holy water immediately burn and dissolve the edges of his skin, his arms had been totally dismembered by the harmless-looking wires!

“Hahahaha!”

The other vampires remained frozen, undaring to even move an inch while the armless vampire groaned and huffed in pain, fear evident in his bright red eyes. They stared wide-eyed at Angela whose head tilted back in a peal of near maniacal laughter. Her chest shook with every sound and they resisted the urge to flinch when she grinned an ear-splitting grin.

“I-Is she — Zurich Monster?”

No one knew who said that, but the silence that pervaded the forest, grew solemn, quieter than the dead in the cemetery. The vampires took a good look at Angela, scrutinising her gleaming blonde hair and vivid blue eyes, the black staff on her back and the equally black gun in her hand.

“Wow, you lot sure are the dumbest one so far.” Angela rolled her eyes as she fiddled with her blaster. “And here I thought the wires would have given it away, but I guess there must always be an idiot that volunteers himself to be the rat.”

The injured vampire paled and he involuntarily took a step back, only to howl in agony as the holy water on the wires behind him burned into his skin, the charcoal-like smell permeating the air, and rather than grimacing, Angela cackled in satisfaction. Burn. Yes, burn!!

Feel the pain! Suffer!

“You deserved it!” She snarled.

“W-Why are you doing this!” One of the female vampires shuddered in fear, flinching when the holy water grazed her skin.

“Why? _Why?_ ” Angela sauntered closer to her. Her demonic expression fell away, replaced by her graceful one as her hand fearlessly reached through the silver wire. She brushed the fingertip of her right index from the vampire’s cheek, a simple feathery touch, down to her chin before haughtily lifting it up and stared straight into those bloody eyes. “Why?” She repeated yet again with a little lift in her voice, the tone sweet like honey and pleasing to the ears.

“Oompf —”

The vampire shivered frightenedly when Angela roughly clutched at her jaw and bared her canines. Fingernails mercilessly dug into the skin and the vampire clearly saw the rage boiling in those blue orbs. The other vampires tensed and were about to move when the wires suddenly tightened and snaked around them as though they were alive, eliciting screams of terror amidst the sizzling burns. The only one spared from the torture was the female vampire that Angela was talking to.

She watched as Angela ‘Zurich Monster’ Ziegler clenched her left fist and her eyes caught sight of the hidden wires connected to the fingers.

Angela cursed under her breath, tightening the wires around her writhing victims. She gave the female vampire a side glance before her tone grew cold. The surrounding temperatures dropped at the chilliness and the vampire regretted, regretted so badly that she allowed herself to be enticed and attracted by the sweet, unique scent of fresh blood; one that she never had before. “Why, you ask?” Angela pulled her forward by the grip on her jaw, sneering, even more when she struggled against the burns from the silver wires that her face was pressed against. Cold laughter brought shivers down the vampire’s spine. “Because of you, _your kind_ , my brother is currently lying in bed in a coma. He may be dead. He may be alive. But _he’s not moving_. And it’s all your fault —”

“We don’t even know —” As soon as another vampire voiced out in retaliation, he was forced to bite his words, eyes wide in horror and disbelief painting his paler-than-usual countenance. “Y-You —”

Heartless. She was more heartless than them, and _they_ were the so-called monsters.

His body didn’t look like it was riddled with bullets, but rather burnt and melted like hydrofluoric acid being poured onto him. Laughter as cold as ice, tinged with madness rang through the forest. The shadows darkened as the sun hid behind the clouds. Screams filled the air. Bodies were torn and melted; limbs slowly disconnected with a squelch. Fear, despair, regret covered the sky. Angela watched on as her laughter died down, from a chilling craze to a despondent breath. The fires dimmed in her eyes, replaced by a sheen of sadness when the last vampire died. With a wave of her arm, the silver wires disconnected and mechanically retracted into her sleeve.

_Click._

Her body dropped onto the blood covered ground while the lighter drew an arc and landed. Flames engulfed the pile of dead bodies with a resounding cry.

Her only consolation was her own cries being drowned out by the fire.

…

Four days.

Literally. Four days.

_Jesse… why aren’t you waking up?_

The gunslinger still hasn’t woken up — her father hadn’t called her. He only had three more days to live, but he wasn’t waking up. Why? Why, why, why?

_Didn’t you have dreams! Why aren’t you chasing them instead of lying like a vegetable!_

_It’s lonely without you. It feels so lonely. Where’s my partner? I can’t keep hunting without you!_

…

A dark silhouette perched atop a tall branch that overlooked the scene below. He felt a pain in his chest, one that he hadn’t felt for _years_ since he met _her_. He tugged the scarf higher to cover his nose as the sweet-smelling breeze wafted over, causing his crimson eyes to gleam a little brighter. He could hear her sobs, sensed her agony as she clawed at her aching heart.

He had been planning to leave Zurich, leave the country and hide away somewhere else where ‘Father’ couldn’t find him once more — at least not for a long while. He was on his way when that sweetness caught his attention. He half thought he had gone crazy from missing her, from thinking about her too much, when the scent hit him twice as hard a moment later.

Blood. Fresh, blood.

She was here.

Then like an actual madman, he ran, zipped through the trees like a moth to a flame.

He was here moments before the horde of vampires did, and he merely watched. She looked alright, in one piece, but her beauty looked a little cold this time, an icy beauty, even if he disregarded the fact that it was winter.

_Sigh…_

He leapt down.

…

A heavy pressure weighed on her chest. Her eyes burned red with hot tears. So much death. She killed them. They were still lives!

“Waaahhh!”

The pressure choked her and she could only cry out to the skies to relieve it. No matter how many she killed, Jesse wouldn’t wake up.

A shadow suddenly loomed overhead. Out of instincts, she steadied herself with a hand and leapt back to instantly distance her from the ambusher, and readied her blaster. Yet, oddly, the person just stood there unmoving, simply watching her with a pained gaze. Her mouth fell open in shock and her grip around the weapon loosened.

“Genji…?”

“Angela…”

For the second time that day, Angela slumped onto the ground with all will to fight leaving her body as a fresh bout of tears attacked her eyes. The sight of the green haired vampire blurred with a layer of water, rippling like a disturbed lake.

Why was he here now? Didn’t he leave? Disappear? Why was he here!

Genji took a wary step forward. She was so close to him and the smell of her blood still pervaded his senses. It made him lust for more, a burning need in deep in his body, but he willed it down. He wouldn’t — couldn’t — possibly drink her blood now.

When he heard her voice questioning him, his frown deepened. Yes, just why was he here? Why…

And a crazy idea popped into his mind.

He carefully and slowly kneeled on the ground one knee at a time, and unwrapped the scarf around his neck, gritting his teeth at the strong assault on his nose. With a strong will and a focus on her tears, Genji gingerly wrapped the scarf around her neck.

“Huh?”

“You’re not alone.” His voice was rasped with emotion and Angela wiped at her tears with the back of her hands.  

_You’re not alone._

Genji’s words repeated in her head. But… but — she was — she felt —

Hopeless.

Useless.

Sensitive.

Her cries quietened, leaving her with soft sobs.

She gazed into his crimson eyes and relief washed over unknowingly. His eyes… they were the same as she remembered. Full of life; emotions — like any other human. But his breathing was laboured, a staggered rise and fall of his chest. A strained smile on his pale, scarred face that offered, at the very least, some kind of comfort.

“You’re not hopeless. Not useless. But I’ll have to admit, you are sensitive,” his lips quirked into a lopsided smile, a little less restrained now that he found her finding him not repulsive. He couldn’t see a trace of anger in the lake her beautiful orbs mirrored. He heard her breath hitch at the last comment and he took another step forward, a step to close the distance between them until their elbows were only inches away from touching, until he could smell her scent — not her blood, but her own calming scent of sweetness that reminded him of the chocolates they ate. Until her heavy pants fanned his chest as she looked up to lock his gaze, and he tilted his head down in response.

“But being sensitive isn’t a bad thing. It never was,” his hands twitched as he willed them to stay by his side, the tingling sensation of her hair on his skin, the slight warmth emanated from her body leaving only but a memory. “Otherwise I’d never have become friends with you, the weird vampire hunter that wanted to save vampires.”

A wet chuckle involuntarily escaped. “But it’s true. You don’t deserve to be hunted.”

“Even so,” his hands lifted, elbows bent as he wanted to wipe the tears away, but he paused as he tried to control his breathing. The blood, the heavy iron scent danced in his nostrils, but the salt in those tears, they hurt more than the pain his hunger brought. “Thank you.”

She jumped slightly. “For what?”

“Letting me feel like a human again.”

His voice was husky, laced with an emotion she could only see as restraint. His eyes glowed much brighter.

And then she found the strength to take inhale, to part her lips as her heart pounded low and deep with emotions that for once, weren’t clouding her vision.

“Genji, where were you —!”

She squeezed her eyes shut at the sudden gale that whipped at her face.

One second he was there, and the next, he was gone, leaving behind only a scarf and a lingering touch upon the corner of her eyes. Two quick pecks to rid her face of the tears, lulling them away with the gentlest of touch, but a whole moon of warmth. The scarf lingered with his scent of trees — _pine_. Had he been sleeping in pine trees? With a wet laugh and a hiccup, she lifted the scarf to her eyes, using the cotton to soak up the tears that again streamed down unforgivingly as she sniffled and cried.

 

She didn’t know how long it had been but the winter chill had begun settling in her bones. Even the fire had died, the bonfire limited to only the corpses of vampires that were now all but ash in the wintry winds. Snowflakes fell, the blanket of snow covering her, an odd comfort in her mind as her eyes slowly drifted shut. Darkness took over her vision. She held his scarf closer, breathing in his scent as her nerves calmed and a scratchy dryness remained in her throat.

So white, a beautiful white scenery. Holiness descended.

Then an apple came into view. Red and crunchy, full of sweetness, round and big nestling in a tanned, calloused hand. Jesse. He grinned at her. His face was the same 21-year-old Jesse’s face, with that wide, face-splitting grin. A short beard on his jaw and she phantomly felt the rough tickles of the beard on her cheek when he’d playfully rub his chin on her face.

A wordless exchange.

Angela suddenly sucked a cold breath in as she jolted awake, like an electric bolt shocking her awake. Eyes flew open in terrified shock and her breath came out laboured.

 _No,_ she thought.

That scene… did not feel like a memory. The background behind him had been too white; too bright and holy — like Heaven. A lump rose in her throat.

_In the end, I believe you’ll know what to do._

His words suddenly spoke in her mind and her face twisted while her body squeezed out the remaining liquid it had for a new round of heart-wrenching tears. Bringing the scarf closer, she curled up into a ball, as tight as she could, as small as she could when her heart thumped like a slow beat of the drum, each hit more painful than the one before. The few centimeters of snow shifted with her movements, catching into the gaps of her clothes and shoes, the cold chilly enough to tell her: This was the reality.

An apple…

Unease crept upon her and she shakily pulled out her cellphone, the nagging curiousity gnawing at her nerves. She quickly typed in a few keywords of what she saw and she scrolled through until she tapped on a link that resembled the closest to her experience.

“Haa…” She released the breath she hadn’t realise she held.

 

**[If you had a dream where you were offering fruits to someone, then this dream represents mutual love you two feel for each other.**

**This person is very important for you and you know that he or she feels the same way for you too.]**

 

Then a thought struck her mind. Tapping back on her cellphone, she quickly typed in another few keywords, bringing up the website with the symbolism of apples. All she remembered was the fact that apples symbolised peace in the Chinese culture.

 

Peace?

_Peace?_

Angela’s expression fell.

_Jesse. Oh, God. Jesse!_

In a panic, Angela scrambled to her feet and snow jumped away in equal panic like snow fairies running away and scoffing at the ruined tranquility. But she ran away as fast as she could, scrambling and tripping over her feet, causing the rage of the snow as it fell harder, turning everything into a sea of white.

Jesse.

She needed to go back. Back to him. But she was at least a day away, even with the train. Cursing a string of expletives, she blew on her bare hands to keep them warm. The adrenaline pumped through her veins, providing the most needed warmth in the chill. The skies were blazing with an orange glow, like the flames that burned the vampires, like the fire that had settled in her heart prior to being replaced by anxiety. Worry. Panic. Desperation. The skies were mocking her, leering at her and taking joy in her misery.

_Please let him be alive. Please._

The cold winds bit at her tear stained face. Branches and roots scratched and pulled at her rushing steps. She listened to the connecting beepings of her call and nearly shouted when it got through.

“ _Angie? What’s wrong?_ ”

“Daddy! Did something happen to Jesse?”

“ _No… nothing should have happened. We’re just waiting for Ana to return from her trip._ ”

Angela’s teeth gnawed at her bottom lip as worry shone in her gaze. Ana Amari was returning from Egypt last she remembered, but she didn’t know if the old veteran would make it in time. Angela knew she needed the Valkyrie to save Jesse, but… there’s only three days left.

Can they make it?

And even if they did, why did she have that dream?

 _I fear…_ Angela shook her thoughts away and she was frustrated at the prickling sensation at her eyes again. _Jesse… I miss you._ _Please wake up already. I’m sorry for arguing with you. I’m sorry I’m too nice to the vampires. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please… Please just wake up._

 


	9. Signs of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela is home.  
> Jesse's still comatose.
> 
> Or... is he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it took so long to update!  
> 12-hour work shifts aren't fun - even if it's a day. And I've been working on a teaching qualification, so that's been fun.
> 
> This hasn't been proofread, but I wanted to share it with you first. Comments and constructive criticisms are always welcomed!

Drifting… drifting. Weightless and free. Quite like a feather, actually. He half thought that it would be dark, like really, really dark, probably similar to Hell. He’ll admit he ain’t no saint, and have probably done some pretty shit things in his life, especially back when he was in a gang in the States.

Jesse McCree shook his head with a grin and folded his arms over and behind his head. One ankle was resting against his propped up knee.

It honestly felt surreal to him, but hey, he wasn’t going to complain. The place didn’t look like no Heaven either, despite being basked in a near ethereal glow of golden-tinged whiteness. Other than that, there was nothing around him; Literally just him, floating like an aimless feather in a white space. And he had lost track of the time too.

Days? Had it been days? It didn’t feel that long though…

“But am I in Heaven or Hell?” he mused out loud.

There were no visible injuries on his body, not a single gunshot wound or cut can be seen — and he’d already strip himself of his clothes to inspect every inch of his body. Old faint pale scars had remained on the places that they were originally at, across his torso, arms, legs and even with a twist of the waist and a stretch of his arms, he could feel the raised bumps of the scars that marred his back. They were all there. Even…

Jesse lightly traced the scar by the side of his neck, calloused fingers tracing them up and down absentmindedly. His mouth parted slightly with light even breaths as his eyes glazed over. He remembered that day so clearly. Underneath the epidermis tissue was a thin linear scar of roughly a centimeter wide and half a ruler long, and if you looked closely enough, on the tanned skin and hidden beneath the scar were puncture wounds, the perfect size and width of an adult vampire’s two top canines tearing and sinking deep into his veins. A little lower was the other half of the vampire’s jaw, which made up the perfect picture of a vampire’s bite.

His hand dropped onto his lap — now clothed — like a lifeless cowboy doll slumping against the wall. A bitter smile curved while the memory resurfaced.

_Sis… I miss you._

 

“Ahhhh!” A sharp pain stabbed his mind when the memory reached the point of the vampire’s bite and he screamed out in agony. It came like lightning shocking his nerves.

 

———

 

The blue construction tarpaulin crunched and struggled under the sudden gusts of wintry winds. The duct tape and masking tape held it as securely as it could under the pressure, protecting the contents like a dragon protecting its treasures. That room was neat and tidy, carpets vacuumed, sheets crisp and flat, and the wardrobe door firmly shut — provided you ignored the destruction that clearly took place. Weblike cracks crawled across the walls in the dim lighting, floorboards were broken with splinters protruding, bullet holes riddled the room’s structure like hidden flies, and of course, the most prominent one: the massive hole in the roof that spanned from the window by the bed all the way to the highest point on the ceiling. Thus, the existence of that blue tarpaulin and duct tape.

A heavy feeling settled on the young woman’s shoulders. The pressure weighed down on her mind and soul. Memories resurfaced in her mind and her heart began to ache. Silently. Wordlessly. She took a small step back, her movements light and she pulled her arm towards her. Only the creaking of the door to her bedroom resounded as it clicked shut before her.

More silence. A heavy, uncomfortable, suffocating silence. Shadows casted over her sullen gaze. The cool hardwood tickled her forehead as a curtain of darkness fell, engulfing her sight. Refreshing and a handle on reality. This was all real. Everything did happen.

And now it passed. It was all gone — he was…

“Angie? Do y-you…” Altherr’s solemn voice drifted over. Deep and hushed, choking with an emotion hidden amidst the words.

Angela bit her bottom lip and clutched harder onto the door handle, squeezing the metal hard until her knuckles turned white and muscles numbed from the strain. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut tighter. Gone. Just —

“Mm.” She forced herself to nod and move away from her bedroom, dragging her feet and returning back to the medical room downstairs. She stopped a few inches before the viewing glass, her vision already having gone blurry before she even stepped foot down the stairs. Steady beats of the machines echoed in her mind, the various wires hooked the unconscious young man up to the respective devices, but the heartbeats were slowing down. Slower than before, slower than it should have been.

Altherr and Wendell stood a few meters away from her with matching solemn expressions, but hidden in their gazes were a trace of guilt.

“She should know…” Wendell mumbled under his breath, audible enough only for his father to hear.

Altherr resolutely shook his head with a frown. The creases on his face seemed more prominent and his appearance grew dull from all the stress. “No, she can’t know.”

Today was just the beginning of the sixth day since Jesse McCree fell into a comatose state, as the dawn began to break through the horizon. Despite rushing with all her might, Angela managed to only arrive home after nearly 35 hours and even then, she was greeted with a still Jesse, unmoving like a statue. If not for the slow rise and fall of his chest, she would have thought him dead.

But he had been — even if for less than a minute.

The sudden high pitched shrill of a flat line echoed loudly in the silent house, scaring both Zieglers awake from their sleepiness. Machines cried out in horror at the loss of life and Altherr remembered, oh so vividly, how helpless and weak he felt as he watched alone of his son trying to resuscitate his step-grandson who fell into cardiac arrest with the defibrillator. His heart jumped harder and harder, directly out of his chest with every shock Wendell gave the young boy, the motion choking him painfully to the point of gasping for air.

It was only after the third shock did a pulse return, like a small leap over the flatlands, bringing about an arc of new found hope.

But as Angela ‘Zurich Monster’ returned and watched her brother sleep — yes sleep, _he was sleeping_ —, she watched his heartbeat, and the ache in her heart grew. She wished she could watch him laugh that bellyful chortle, smile that toothy grin full of cheekiness, coo and pat any canines that come their way — no matter if they’d snap and growl at him; they were all babies to him—, and perhaps, what she missed most, _needed_ , most, was his hug.

A sharp breath and a slow, deep shuddering exhale. Fingers curled and scratched against the glass. Warm liquid began to pool in her eyes.

At least, he was alive?

 

_Beep beep! Beep beep!_

_Beeeeeeeeee —_

Angela’s head shot up at the warning indicators, gasping in shock. The ringing cry of the flatlined heartbeat echoed in her head and a surge of adrenaline pumped through her veins. Unsteady hands scrambled to pull the door open. She faintly felt another presence and the rustling of the machine behind her. Muscle memory served its purpose as she quickly sanitised herself and donned the gown, hat, and gloves despite the tears clouding her vision. She worked quick and efficient with her father, shuffling towards one end of the bed as he occupied the other, and she confirmed Jesse’s lack of pulse. Next to him stood the resuscitation machine. A familiar process, Wendell lamented as his hands moved swiftly: squeezing the conductive gel, rubbing the paddles together, and placing them on Jesse’s chest. Angela stepped back.

“Clear!”

Her eyes twitched involuntarily at the administered shock as his body jerked upwards before falling back down. Despairing blue eyes gazed at the motionless young man, the tinkering of the machine the only sound in the room.

“Step back.”

Angela obeyed obediently and stepped back just as the paddles hovered above Jesse’s chest, when the body started convulsing. It violently rattled against the bed, his mouth gaping open like a dead fish as Wendell abandoned the paddles to hold him still, but despite his wiry body, he could not properly hold the young man down. Panic filled the room as Angela struggled to help but to no avail. The door slid open as a robust man entered, easily holding Jesse down with his arms.

“What happened?” Worry and anxiety were clearly visible on the aged face.

Wendell opened his mouth to answer, yet no words came out. Uncertainty glazed in his eyes. Jesse clearly flatlined. He was supposed to be dead and the dead were not supposed to move.

“Jesse… Jesse…” Angela cried softly.

“Ahhhhh!” A scream tore through their ears like the shattering of glass. The hair on their arms and neck stood straight up, chilling shivers running down their spine. Jesse roared another monstrous scream and threw everyone off with a wave of his arms. Crashes sounded as their bodies slammed into the equipment and machines. Angela squeezed her eyes at the sharp stinging sensation on her arm, the blood seeping through the teal coloured gown. She returned her attention back to Jesse who constantly screamed, this time filled with agony and pain, as he clawed at his neck. Red scratches marked his tanned skin, veins began to bulge and crawl up to his face, and she felt some sort of heat emitting off his body.

And for reasons unbeknownst to her, the Angelic blood coursing through her veins began to pulse. She turned to her father and grandfather, and their gazes conveyed a confusion similar to hers.

Vampire?

Yet, there shouldn’t be one. Patrols have begun and security was tightened. No vampire should be able to —

All three of them looked back at Jesse.

_It can’t be._

But when Angela staggered towards Jesse, his head sharply snapped towards her with bared fangs. Elongated, curved, fangs. What caught her full attention, however, were neither the fact he was moving and alive, but the pair of bright crimson eyes the shade of blood.

“How —!”

No one knew who cried out first or who made the first move, but the Zieglers were already jumping towards their weapons and dodging the newborn. Jesse McCree, the vampire hunter: a newborn vampire. Angela lunged to the side as she unholstered her blaster and a loud crash impacted behind her, yet ignoring the pain from the machines and wall, Jesse snarled at his sister and leapt towards her once again. His gaze followed the streak of blood that trailed the air, her sweet, oh so delicious blood that filled his senses. He needed it, he wanted it. With a hand palming the floor, she rolled forward following the momentum, barely escaping the claws Jesse swiped at her back.

“Oof!”

A large figure tackled Jesse to the side, crashing into the metal frames of the medical bed and the duo began to wrestle. Altherr sat all his weight and force down onto Jesse’s hips while he fought to subdue his step-grandson, but the young man was snarling and fighting back with a strength he never had before. Sweat started to bead from the old man’s pores, the adrenaline and heavy emotions rolling out in waves. Even the room seemed hot, and hotter when he was close to Jesse. The newborn seemed to be emitting an intense heat.

But no one understood why; Just why?

Altherr shot his palm to meet Jesse’s claws, holding on tightly as he tried to push him down with his other arm when the sweat from his palm made him lose his grip — and he slipped. With that split second window of opportunity, Jesse snapped his head forward and headbutted Altherr, the force hard enough to knock him into a complete daze. His vision was spinning and blur, a heavy throb thumping in his temples.

“Jesse!!”

Jesse halted in midaction, the voice seemingly effective. He didn’t lower his claws, the sharp nails inches away from tearing apart the skin on Altherr’s neck, but he turned his head ever so slowly towards the source. There she was, leaned back against the cold wall with her blaster aimed at him. Her arms were slack and breathing heavy. His nose twitched at the metallic yet sweet scent of her blood, but he sniffed the slightest traces of saltiness as well.

“Jesse… Oh, J-Jesse…”

Her voice was quivering, her body shaking, and like the soul leaving his body, Jesse froze, staring at the thick streams of tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. He breathed in sharply, only to have it hitch in his throat when a searing pain burned inside him, through his veins and in his blood. It burned like the flames of a wildfire, burning every inch in his pores, but it burned the worst by his neck, to the point a red, blistering blemish appeared. He clawed at the pain, the sharp fingernails slicing apart the skin like a knife to butter and blood unceasingly flowed. With a cry, he shoved Altherr away and jumped towards Angela.

_It hurts! IT HURTS! SHE HURT ME!_

_BLOOD! I NEED HER BLOOD!_

“Angie!” Wendell ran and pulled his daughter away just as Jesse crashed onto the wall. He had zero experience whatsoever in the field, having only focused on medicine and healing, but he’ll be damned if he lost his daughter too!

“Daddy! Let me go!”

Yet, for reasons unknown again, Angela was compelled to him, attracted like a moth to a flame. Her Angelic blood still pulsed with the usual warnings of a vampire’s presence, but at the same time, it felt like Jesse was calling out to her, to her blood. Because not once, never, had she encountered a newborn like this. They were always cold, detached, but Jesse was fiery, a literal hot mess, and he responded. He responded to her voice.

“I can’t! Jesse’s not himself! You know that!”

Altherr groaned in pain as the headache and dizziness relented, crashing harder at the muffled shouts in his ears. He knew his back was hurt; There was a sharp dull pain in his spine that shocked him like lightning when he moved. He breathed in. His head slumped forward.

“Shit — DAD!”

Angela felt her father’s grip disappearing and she rejoiced as she was about to leap towards Jesse, but his shout caught her attention.

A heavy lump in her throat. She forcefully gulped it down as the tears fell harder. Without second thoughts, throwing her worries for Jesse aside, Angela fell before her grandfather instead.

“Please, please. Please!”

She dropped her blaster as she pulled out the staff from her back, immediately activating. Her blood flowed faster, rushing towards the beckoning of the staff as the healing light shone. It enveloped her grandfather. Wendell gritted his teeth, hating the feeling of helplessness and uselessness that eroded his soul. Looking at his father, then at a writhing Jesse, he made a resolve and got to his feet. Not much he could do then and now, except for one thing —

Running towards the cabinets of medicine, he tore open the plastic seal that secured it and shuffled through the glass bottles. There was the clinking of glass as he pushed them aside, frantically searching for the one — His face lit up in joy as his slender fingers grabbed hold of a clear bottle. On its label read ‘Propofol’. Bending down, he grabbed a couple of new sterilised syringes and tore one open from its vacuumed plastic, immediately inserting it into the bottle as his thumb pulled the plunger back. He watched as the liquid was sucked in and once it reached 10ml, he rushed towards Jesse and unhesitatingly plunged the needle into his neck before pushing all the liquid into his vein. Jesse’s screams slowly dimmed in a decrescendo, but it wasn’t enough.

Waving his arm at Wendell, the doctor was thrown aside and crashed into the fallen bed. His body slumped over.

Seeing the scene, Angela’s mouth gaped open. Her lips quivered, the tears slowing but not stopping.

_Jesse, you…_

Unwilling to believe, she staggered towards her brother who was wailing in pain. Even the anesthesia provided little relief, but when he caught wind of Angela’s blood, he snapped towards her, and just like before, she paused at the sight of those bright glowing eyes.

_Genji._

His scarred face and green hair popped into her mind. Why? Perhaps because… Jesse still retained some resemblance of actually being human, and… Genji did too?

Hovering above him, Angela reached out a hand, slowly, just very slowly. The wound on her arm ran down the length and dripped from her fingertips. Pit. Pat. Drop by drop, they landed on the tiled floor. Jesse remained unmoving. He returned her gaze, the craziness dimming in the presence of her gentle, tear-stained one. She bent her knees, dropping to his side, a simple arm’s length away, and she continued reaching out. Her fingertips lightly brushed against his 5 o’clock shadow. Then, they landed on the side of his neck, right above the blistering area, above the scar of the vampire bite; from when he was fifteen.

In that instance, Jesse let out a scream. This time, louder and even more ear piercing than before. Her blood traveled through his wounds on the neck, soaking and disappearing through his veins.

The burn came back ten times worse.

His throat was dry, so goddamn dry, and his screaming began to grow hoarse, husky. As if struck by lightning, Angela grabbed his wrist and holding his finger still, she resolutely used it to cut at her arm. Her blood instantly escaped its confines. Jesse snarled at her when she forcefully gripped at his jaws, but with ignorance, she raised her bleeding arm over his neck, watching it flow into his wound.

“Aaaahhhh! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

Jesse thrashed about when the pain intensified and Angela hurriedly sat atop him and kneed his solar plexus, settling all her weight on him. Jesse screamed louder to the point of shattering her eardrums when it was muffled. Angela’s other arm that had been gripping his jaws was now stuffed between his fangs. Biting down mercilessly, Jesse felt the puncture of her skin beneath his canines and he felt the utter satisfaction of blood coating the pearly whites. They slid down his tongue and further into his throat.

The pleasure was enough to ignore the burns.

However, when the blood that flowed in his mouth reached his stomach, he began to convulse and scream. Such a monstrous, agonising scream. He flung Angela away, hurtling her through the glass viewing panels and slamming onto the opposite wall. She gasped out a mouthful of blood. Her body dropped lifelessly onto the floor.

Leaving the only sign of life that remained: Jesse McCree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone predict that?? Anyone?


	10. Vampire Mayhem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reinhardt and Ana to the rescue, and we see a little snippet of Hanamura with what's more to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp. Took me a month for this chapter. Hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Haven't properly checked and edited this too uwu
> 
> Comments/Constructive criticisms always welcomed.

Monstrous roars echoed through the dead hallways before thunderous crashes boomed. The white hallways were empty, void of any lifeforms, yet the echoing roars were enough to send shivers down the spine. Heavy, slow footsteps tapped against the floor; One hand lightly tracing the wall on his left as his right hand held a giant silvery steel hammer. The weapon was nearly as tall as the robust man himself with the hammer's head twice the size of his biceps, but he easily carried it as though it weighed as light as a feather. On one end of the hammer’s head were three holes shining a bright yellow glow; the rocket propulsion ready to fire at any moment. The scar carved on his left eye made the older man’s expression grimmer, especially since there was a smaller, petite woman crouching behind his much larger frame. In her arms was a sniper rifle but her gaze was still as sharp as ever despite only seeing through one good eye, the other covered by an eyepatch. She exhaled deeply, calming the nerves and adrenaline pumping through her veins, but more so to catch her breath.

“Meine Maus, are you okay?” Reinhardt whispered worriedly as he glanced back at her.

Ana inhaled and smiled sweetly at him. “I’m alright. It was just a really long flight.”

Reinhardt frowned and twisted around to lightly run a thick finger down her cheek before cupping her face. “If you need to rest, you should go.”

She leaned into his touch, her smile softening even more. “It’s alright, my love. I can’t let you go in alone.” The warmth on her forehead brought forth a sensation of bliss, and though it lasted only ever so briefly, his kiss was enough to invigorate her. _This is worth it_.

Her return back to Zurich had been rushed and the fastest flight was already over 24 hours long with a single stopover, even after hurrying through her research and investigation of the secret chamber and leaving earlier than expected. Rushing through immigration and customs declaration, she met up with Reinhardt with a heavy heart, but it wasn’t only her; Reinhardt also had a bad premonition. A quick hug and a peck, the two rushed towards the car and sped back to the Ziegler’s house which was still a good 20 minutes away. With the tap of the keycard, the couple brandished their weapons as they warily made their way in, only to be met with furious roars and snarls — _inhumane_ roars and snarls.

Walking past the living room on the ground floor and through the hallway leading up to the medical room, they saw —

“Angela!” They cried out simultaneously upon seeing the slumped figure by the wall. Her head hung low, a streak of blood dripping from the corner of her lips and her Angelic artifacts were strewn some ways away from her.

Reinhardt took a decisive step forward and held out his arm to block Ana from moving forward when another roar shook the walls. Distraught, Ana furrowed her brows as she readied her biotic rifle and Reinhardt lifted his rocket hammer. They inched closer and closer towards Angela, their eyes and bodies facing the viewing glass panel. Despite the sunlight rising over the horizon, the house was eerily dark. When the roars came again, they felt it firsthand how the glass vibrated, how the walls shook. Ana bent down and checked on the fallen blonde while Reinhardt continued to stare at the glass viewing panel, an uneasy feeling sinking into him. He gripped his hammer tight, muscles pulling taut. From the dim emergency lighting of the medical room, he saw faint traces of the battle aftermath through the glass; Of broken shelves and broken glasses, of disorderly equipment strewn about, some fallen over, of the strong stench of medicine and drugs, and the big black block of shadow before him. Rising and falling. Rising… and falling.

 _Breathing_.

With heavy pants that now seemed to echo in his mind.

Reinhardt steadied his breathing and widened his stance, arching his back downwards a little and watched the unknown silhouette warily. It was the muscles, the body's frame and some shadowy image of that unruly hair that made him hesitate, that gave him a sense of foreboding danger. He inched forward, only to jolt in surprise when the pair of bright red eyes glared at him in the darkness, sharp and piercing into his soul. The black silhouette abruptly turned around and kept staring at the large man before letting out a soft cry. Reinhardt’s subconsciously loosened his grip on the hammer when he heard that deep, slightly rough voice. His eyes traced the silhouette’s figure, from the head to the shoulders… his back, despite the danger ringing in his head, this person… There was oddly, a sense of familiarity.

Its head tilted slightly towards the unconscious blonde in Ana’s arms and then cried again, this time a rasp of words, melancholic enough to even shake the old couple’s hearts. “A-Angie…”

Reinhardt straightened his back. “Jesse?”

A mournful cry. They warily watched Jesse stand and clutch at the viewing glass. “I’m sorry… I-I’m sorry…” He knocked his head upon the glass as his back hunched in despair.

“What happened to you?” Ana spoke up as she placed a finger to Angela’s nostrils, relief flooding her system at feeling the slow, ragged breath upon her fingertips. Her hands patted at the blonde’s head, feeling the bump there and checked for any other external injuries.

“I-I don’t know… I really don’t,” Jesse croaked when a lump became stuck in his throat. Breathing constricted, eyes warm and watery, he slowly slid down the wall and curled up into a ball. What had happened? He wasn’t even sure himself. All he felt was a heavenly whilst floating before recalling a memory from six years ago when an intense pain burned and crawled up his neck. Starting from the old vampire bite mark, the pain travelled through his veins and towards his other limbs, leaving behind a path of numbing burns. His throat became parched, goosebumps littered his skin as the temperature began to drop tremendously; From mid 20’s to the 10’s, before steadily staying at the couple of degrees above and below zero. His bones started to pound and ache, muscles spazzing and writhing.

The next thing he knew, his conscience woke up to Angela’s tears above his face and her already scarred arm clamped between his jaws. Her beautiful blonde hair was dishevelled and matted with sweat, but her pained stubbornness was vivid in his memory.

Then the excruciating pain came once again as her blood started to flow into him. There was the sounds of glass shattering and something crashing into the wall, and when he refocused, Angela was already lying on the ground, as still as a corpse. Just like his step father and step grandfather.

“Did you say it was Angela’s blood flowing into you, Jesse?” Ana perked up. The couple still stood some ways away from the newborn vampire, preferring the weak barrier the glass viewing panel could provide than entering and checking up on him. Caution sailed a thousand seas after all.

“Yes, it was.” Jesse lifted his head while trying to steady his breathing. Everything still burned, ached, hurt, but he refused it. Refused to believe he was turned into a vampire. Refused to believe he hurt his own sister. Refused to believe _he bit her._

“It was her Angelic blood… It’s the Angelic blood!” Ana whirled around to pull out an ancient book in her backpack she hadn’t removed. A relic she retrieved from the secret chamber in Egypt from what seemed to be a tomb at that time. She had seen and deciphered some writings on the wall, but seeing Jesse like this, recalling something from the past…

“Oh Gods…” The old woman suddenly exhaled and stared at Angela. “I think I know.”

“What is it?” Reinhardt’s steady voice calmed her nerves.

“Six years ago, Jesse was bitten by a vampire. Normally, he would have turned into a vampire when that happened, but he didn’t.” Ana turned her attention onto the young man in question. “You didn’t. Why?” The last word came out more like a whisper, a rasped word in her shock.

“I don’t know! How am I supposed to know! I didn’t know six years ago and I still don’t today!” Jesse cried agonisingly. “I remember getting bitten. I only remember a vampire biting and killing the vampire that bit me. And Angie trying to stop my bleeding!”

“But she was bleeding too,” Ana added softly, but audible enough for the two men. “Her right arm was injured that day and she was bleeding. Her blood got mixed in with yours from that bite. Her Angelic blood was the most potent in all the generations and from this, I’ve recently found out that the blood is a natural suppressant for the vampiric cells in vampires.” Lifting the ancient book, she continued, “That was all detailed in this book. From the little I could read, Angels could suppress vampires centuries ago was because of their blood. It minimised the appearance of newborns and was used as part of their weapons. But years came and went, and the bloodline thinned, making the Angelic blood weak.”

“Until Angie came along…”

Ana nodded in agreement and Jesse groaned when the injury on his neck flared with pain, his hand shooting up to tightly clutch at it.

“Barrier, activated!”

In a split second, Reinhardt tensed and swung the metallic lion’s head that hung on his shoulder forward, swiftly activating the barrier field as a light blue energy shield stood in between them and Jesse. Immediately just as the shield lit up, a large force broke through the thick viewing glass and slammed towards it. Reinhardt groaned and gritted his teeth under the immense pressure. Animalistic snarls filled his ears and he fiercely met Jesse’s crimson gaze with his own. Ana gripped onto her rifle, agilely reloading a chamber with a special bullet that dimly shone a bluish silver metallic sheen under the shield’s glow, but instead of a conical shaped tip, it had a three-centimeter slim tube with a diagonal cut tip; Just like a syringe. Jesse raised a clawed hand above his head and Reinhardt readied his hammer, the rockets lighting up as the head started to redden and heat up.

“Rargh!”

Jesse brought his hand down just as the energy barrier disappeared, with the old soldier instantly swinging his hammer out and a fiery crescent wave collided with the claws. The newborn cried out when the fire strike scorched his skin and sent him flying backward. Flipping in mid air, Jesse stabilised himself on the broken window panes and was about to lunge when there was a small prick on his raised hand. His snarls died down, confused sounds coming out muffled and jumbled as the sight before him blurred. He lifted his hand to his face, scrutinising the metal syringe sticking into his palm like a massive splinter when his blurred vision tilted.

Reinhardt was awkwardly holding the reactivated energy barrier up as he watched the young newly-turned-vampire man tilt forward and unceremoniously drop onto the floor. He flinched at the loud thump, seeing Jesse having fallen face first. “Oww.”

Ana huffed apathetically, hefting the rifle higher onto her shoulder.

Reinhardt chuckled faintly with a small shake of his head. Looking back at the medical room, he trudged on carefully as the older woman stayed by Angela’s side with the rifle ready. Slowly, Reinhardt used his hammer to push the door open. Gentle like a feather, as quiet as a mouse. Broken glass clinked as the door moved and he crept into the room cautiously. Shield still strong before him with courage still the same from his golden days, he fully opened the door. Everything was still dark before him with the absence of any windows nearby, but using the glow of his shield, he lifted it higher and observed his surroundings.

…

“Meine Maus! I found Altherr and Wendell!”

That day, the University Hospital of Zurich was given a surprise when they had to tend to the three Zieglers that were just admitted. The hospital was sent into a panic; Crazy rumours of assassins attacking the famous Zieglers started to spread and there were versions where vampires infiltrated the hub of vampire hunters and were about to inflict chaos upon them. The neighbours living next to the Zieglers definitely didn't help, having heard the snarls and sounds coming from the house.

…

When Angela finally opened her eyes, she felt a throbbing pain in her neck and skull. Turning slightly to the sides, she noticed both her grandfather and father resting on hospital beds with steady breathing

But…

“Jesse?” Her voice was hoarse, scratchy at the throat and she couldn’t help the fits of coughs that escaped. Where was he?

“You need to rest, Angela.” She glanced at the door where Reinhardt stood with a bouquet of fresh flowers in hand. Her lips twitched in amusement at the sight before it fell. Seemingly reading her mind, the old soldier walked to her bedside and added the flowers into the vase as he whispered, “He’s a Jungspund, he will be alright.” Then with a mocking sigh, he grinned, “All the Jungspunde these days, they’re so healthy and energetic!”

Angela giggled softly, though it sounded wet and sullen. She appreciated his gesture of trying to cheer her up, but she saw firsthand, how Jesse became a vampire, became… the very monster he hated, the monster he hunted. Reinhardt smiled sadly and gingerly caressed her cheek, ignoring the wet drops that dribbled down his calloused finger.

 

———

 

“ _The Zurich monster was last seen in the forest 40 miles from the city…_ ”

A lithe figure leapt off a branch before nimbly landing onto one a few meters away and quickly vaulting off once more, leaving behind only a streak of bright green that camouflaged amidst the trees.

“ _Burnt corpses were found… they were the missings people from …”_

He quickly arrived at the crime scene. Security tape cordoned off the area and a group of policemen surrounded the place. Hidden in the shadows high up in the forest trees, Genji watched and observed the happenings below. From the markings of the trees to the smell of burnt silver tinting the air, he knew one thing that the reporters didn’t know: The Zurich Monster’s identity.

_Is she okay?_

Recalling the scene that happened just yesterday, he shut his eyes as his heart thumped a dull ache.

_Why do I hurt like this?_

In the middle of his thoughts, a policeman’s voice sounded.

“Why do you think this is happening?”

“I don’t know. Crazy things have been happening. I heard that there’s a vampire outbreak in Japan…”

Genji flinched at the news. Japan? It couldn’t be… It wouldn’t be, right?

“Ouch! Shit, man! I accidentally cut myself!”

“Stop whining like a sissy. It’s just a cut.”

“Ugh, a vampire wouldn’t show up and suddenly eat us right?” The injured policeman darkly joked.

“Nah, Zurich’s literally the hub for vampire hunters. There wouldn’t be any vampires nearby.”

The sweet, metallic smell permeated his senses and he groaned. Swaying on his feet, his eyes flashed between red and black. His repressed instincts stirred within his veins, swimming through his nerves and his fangs tingled with the itch to bite. Just. One. Small. Bite. To drink. To _feast._ Oh, how long has it been since he feasted? He needed to taste that sweetness that slid down his throat, dripping down his lips as he savoured every, last drop. He wanted to – no _needed_ — Just — !

_NO! YOU CAN’T!_

_Drink! … So! Much! Blood! You don’t need her!_

_NO! NO! I CAN’T!_

_HEHEHE FEAST!_

The tree trunk dented beneath his claws, splinters breaking off and falling to the ground. His eyes switched between the colours faster and faster, as though a seal was about to be broken. Just how long has it been since he had a proper meal? Oh, so long…

_I can’t — no — don’t —!_

_Why do you even care!_ Maniacal cackles echoed in his mind. _Just drink! Driiiink!_

Genji clutched at his throat, feeling it becoming more and more parched with every second, his control worsening the longer he smelled the smell.

 

_“You don’t deserve to be hunted.”_

Her voice suddenly appeared in his mental battle and he found his attention shifting subconsciously. A memory of old, yet actually still so recent, began to play. He remembered his restraint, of him holding back from wiping her tears away, and he remembered of the pain he felt at seeing _her_ pain. But it was that one time that… Genji groaned and clutched at his head. With a roar, he leapt off the branch, further into towards the forest and away from civilisation, leaving behind a group of frightened policemen.

_“Even so… Thank you.”_

_“For what?”_

_“Letting me feel like a human again.”_

 

———

 

Peach blossoms eyes flitted open and a pair of dull onyx eyes glimmered in the ashy darkness. There was only a stream of moonlight that peaked in from the window overlooking into the dojo, landing on the silvery green hair of its tail. It lifted its serpentine head, long thin whiskers caressing the wooden bamboo flooring and the cold blood running through his veins suddenly thumped in the dead of night.

“ _Awoooo!_ ”

A desperate howl echoed through the traditional Japanese hall. Sadness, despair. Loneliness. Those emotions rushed through the long, slender dragon, giving him the sudden urge to wake up, _to live_. It clawed agitatedly at the wood to the small roof of the shrine in the dojo hall, but it never left a depression on the old wood. It knew and understood how important the shrine was to itself and to —

Dark almond eyes slowly gazed up at the small meter long dragon howling atop the shrine. Calm, collected. Quiet.

Solitary, yet with a sense of sorrow in that broad, straight back.

The man wore a slim fitting waistcoat of a striped grey colour with deep navy sides and the same striped pants, emanating a firm and steady aura as his silhouette was painted by the soft halation of the dojo’s paper lanterns. By his kneeled legs were a bow and a quiver of a colour matching his suit filled with arrows. Jet black hair of his undercut was styled to the back with a strand that dangerously — _attractively_ — hung in front of his eyes, a solemn expression sat on his chiselled face. Despite a charismatic, handsome Asian visage, he showed no other emotion in his uptight posture and straight face, but if one looked closely enough, there was a hidden pain and hurt clouded in those eyes as they stared at the green dragon.

“What is it?” A deep, silky voice with a magnetic pull.

“ _Awooo…_ ” The howl dimmed into a soft cry as the dragon hunched and stared at the moonlight from the window. It circled once around the shrine’s roof, worry and anxiety clear in its cries. Its blood felt it, the lull of its connection. It had come and gone like the wind, a strong gust that swept at its face, the force terrifying enough to make it fall, yet it then abruptly disappeared, like an illusion; a figment of its imagination.

But it was there. It felt it.

The green dragon cried into the darkness and the man’s lips parted, the question hanging at the tip of his tongue, when the reptilian creature leapt off its hind legs and flew off through the balcony windows, leaving only the soft swish of the winds and a cold shadow of its absence.

Beneath the shrine’s roof and further down the torn, bloodied scroll displaying a strong, beautiful calligraphy was a bamboo katana holder lacquered dark and sleek. The displayed damaged katana still gave off a sharp aura as the man mentally sighed and returned to kneeling before the blade. He placed his hands on his thighs and straightened his back, his tired expression disappearing after a moment of vulnerability.

“Cold winter’s moon glow,

A dragon’s cry, hidden tears,

Genji, please, will you…?”

From behind the small pedestal the katana holder stood, appeared twin dragons similar to the green one that had flown away, but rather than a shimmery green colour, they were a soft glow of striking blue. They stared at the kneeling man, their dark eyes curved down in sadness, before walking towards him, their sharp claws lightly scratching against the tatami flooring. He ignored their affectionate nudging and remained unmoving like a boulder; Stern and upright. Like two kittens, the dragons rubbed their heads and bodies against him, but he was already immune to their shameless, cutesy actions for centuries. Hanging their heads, the dragons could only whine and settle with curling up against his legs and burying their heads into his warmth.

It was a tranquil silence, with only the occasional winter’s breeze whispering, and the slight snoring of the two dragons. A sudden cry cried out in the night, followed by a few more, and the tranquillity was broken Footsteps rapidly thudded against the tatami flooring. Unwanted visitors rushed into the Shimada Dojo. The twin dragons were jolted awake at the presence of the newborns trespassing their grounds. In the next second, the vampires were already within fifteen meters of the trio. The two dragons’ scales bristled as their hair stood in aggression. Fangs bared while growling, they circled to either side of their master. In the second, the vampires were ten meters away. The dragons crouched, ready to pounce. The third second. Five meters away.

That’s when he moved.

He nimbly got to his feet, swiping up his bow and three arrows as he turned. With the arrows already nocked on the bow upon facing the bloodsucking creatures, he let loose. The sharp arrows pierced the sides of the first three vampires’ necks, through and through to three more vampires behind them, stopping squarely in the heart of one and the necks of two others.

Fourth second. He took a step back closer to the katana holder as he kicked up an arrow, catching it easily with his left hand and nocking it. Unlike the other arrows, this was a little more special; Its arrowhead split into threes when the bow was fully pulled. The remaining vampires neared, the closest at four meters and the furthest at ten. With the arrow pointed at the closest vampire, the crosshair aim shifted from the vampire’s pale face towards the area before their feet. Wind whistled by the man’s ears as the arrow flew. He turned around calmly and kneeled again, indifferent as the arrow divided into six fragmented parts upon hitting the tatami floor. A fragment ricocheted off the floor and pierced the vampire taking point in the eye and through to its brain, the other fragments ricocheting off the walls at the sides and accurately killing the other five newborns behind it. The two dragons scoffed and huffed at the dead vampires before returning to curling up beside their unscathed master.

“Flowerbeds of blood,

Death, solitude. Forgiveness,

A dragon’s sadness…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jungspund: Young people/old teen in German  
> Jungspunde: Plural for the above
> 
> This I thank FreakyPseud for that :D And for being my personal OW Wiki for I am totally not up to date with most things ;w;


End file.
